RWBY: The Path We Walk
by Zireks
Summary: The Vytal tragedy changed everything. Friendships in shambles, Grimm and White Fang on a rampage, a terrified world spiraling off the brink off war, and the one who caused it all is still at large. A story of redemption and trust, of revenge and justice, and of the fate of the world which rests on the shoulders of a couple teenagers in way over their heads. (Post Volume 3 AU)
1. Chapter 1: Regrets

**Author's note: This is my version of RWBY volume 4 and beyond. The dotted line in between paragraphs mark a change in perspective from one character to the next. Hope you like it! Cover Image made by TyberZann2814 on Deviantart**

One hour…One hour was all it took for Ruby's whole world to fall apart, shattered like the false illusions of peace that they knew. She still had dreams about that night. It was all so bright and happy before, but like the setting sun it was gone in an instant and replaced with a night of hell on Remnant. The memories were all so vivid but confused, melting together into a pool of fear and terror, memories of sharing secrets with Penny intermingled with images of her dismembered lifeless body on the floor of the arena. The shock of seeing that criminal Torchwick be devoured by a Grimm. The sounds of her teammates' laughter laid over the sights of Yang's unconscious body lying on the cobble stone of the schoolyard with one arm a bloody mess of bandages and the other clutched tightly in the hands of a wounded Blake rapidly repeating the same three words, "I'm so sorry." The sickening appearance of the Grimm dragon that had snaked its way around the CCT, and whose roars silenced Vale and deafened the world. The image of Cinder's arrow piercing Pyrrha's chest burning her to ashes as she gasped for air was branded into her nightmares every night, including tonight.

"Ruby! Ruby, wake up!" A panicked voice yelled.

Ruby woke up with a violent jolt which pushed Nora onto her back with a loud thud.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs, eyes sparkling silver, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Nora jumped up and pulled Ruby into a hug and began whispering into her ear. "Shhh….it's okay, it's okay, you stopped it, it's not going to hurt anyone anymore," She spoke these words in such a gentle, motherly, tone it was hard to believe that a few months ago Ruby only knew her as her team's hyperactive rival from team JNPR. "Better?" She asked.

"Yeah," Ruby said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "Better."

Nora smiled and stood up, allowing Ruby to reassess her surroundings. It was sunset, the rising moon was shining dimly in its broken phase, barely illuminating their mismatched team's campsite. The only real light was coming from the… Ruby flinched and looked away, ever since that night she couldn't even look at fire. She didn't want to look at the sunset either for worries that it might bring back memories of better times.

"We're going to be sprouting grey hairs pretty soon if you keep making us worry like that" Nora said.

Ruby sighed, it had been roughly four months since the battle and the nightmares weren't pulling any punches, she had hoped that her journey to Haven, the Huntsman academy in Mistral, with Nora and the others would help keep her mind off things but this was the third episode she had since they left Patch three weeks prior. "It's embarrassing, you guys were there too and your dreams don't send you into a fit!" Ruby groaned in frustration at her own inadequacy.

"We were there yes, but you were at the center of it. You…" Nora trailed off and shifted uneasily on the ground, "Saw it all." she finished.

Ruby stared at Nora intensely as to avoid letting her eyes wander to the fire. Nora's naturally messy orange hair seemed right at home with the rough wilderness but she could see on her face that she, like her, was nearing her emotional limit. There were bags starting to form under her wild green eyes. She was constantly jittering like always, not in the carefree and unpredictable way her friends came to know and love about her, but in an anxious way, like how a kid can't sit still when a parent tells them to.

"Where are Ren and Jaune?" Ruby asked to break the silence. As if on cue the two teenage boys came barreling through the bushes.

"NORA!" Ren yelled, as Jaune tripped on a root and toppled on top of him with a loud grunt.

The sight made Ruby and Nora laugh, "For a couple of huntsman in training you two sure are clumsy." Nora said in between her giggles. That made Ruby smile ever more, it was good to see the fun loving Nora was still alive in there even if it felt like the whole world seemed to be trying to kill it.

"Don't look at me, it was Jaune who tripped" said Ren as he was dusting himself off.

"Hey it was a team effort" said Jaune as he did the same.

"But what happened? We heard screaming" Ren asked concernedly.

Ruby's face went a bright shade of pink, "I was screaming too?" She asked as she buried her burning face in the folds of her shirt.

Nora and the others exchanged worried looks before Jaune sat down next to Ruby and patted her on the back. "Don't worry we aren't judging you, we're barely doing any better" he said in a weak attempt to comfort Ruby.

She looked up at him, even though he wasn't good at consoling with words, his very presence always felt calming. Something about his awkward wide smile always cheered up everyone.

"Come on everyone, Dinner's almost ready, let's act like normal teens for once and eat our problems away!" Nora said in her once normal chipper mood.

"Ha, you seem to be getting better at cooking Nora" Ren scoffed.

"Why thank you," Nora said proudly as she began passing out slices of turkey.

"And it only took the world going to hell for it to happen," Ruby said sarcastically, Jaune and Ren chuckled much to Nora's annoyance.

...

Yang woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Panting heavily she removed her covers and turned on the lamp at her bedside. She looked down at her left arm and saw it shaking furiously. "Ok, Yang remember what dad told you, just breath," Yang closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm her nerves. Afterwards she looked to her right and winced, she doubted that she would ever get used to seeing a tiny stump where her arm once was once was. She sighed, "I need a glass of water." she moaned before getting out of bed and shambling down the hall.

When she entered the kitchen she found her father sorting through travel supplies and stuffing them into a backpack. He turned around when he heard her enter and nearly jumped out of his skin, "Y-yang, What are you doing up this late you should be in bed!"

Yang rolled her eyes and responded in a kind of distant tone, "It's been four months, dad, I'm fine, what are you doing?"

"Well um…" Taiyang rubbed the back of his head and did everything in his power to avoid eye contact with her. Ever since the incident Yang had seemed to always have an angry subtext to everything she said and a piercing stare that could make a Goliath flinch. "Things have been pretty bad recently and the Huntsman Association has called a meeting at Shade in Vacuo for all Platinum rank Huntsman so I…"

Yang sighed, "Don't worry about me Dad, just go do your work and save the world like Ruby." Yang said in a tired and disinterested tone.

Taiyang winced at the mention of his daughter that ran away from home to chase whatever delusion of grandeur that Qrow had filled her head with. "Yeah, save the world," he said while swallowing the lump in his throat. "I'm not leaving until tomorrow so don't worry about it ok, I'll be back in a week or so, and I asked some of the neighbors to check up on you," he put his hand on Yang's shoulder, trying not to stare at her stump arm. "You will be all right, don't worry." He said, trying to be reassuring.

"Ok," Yang said with the most sincere half smile she could muster. He hesitated for a moment before lifting his hand from Yang's shoulder.

"Now get back to bed, you still need your rest. I'll bring you some water."

Yang nodded before walking back to her room, a large grimace replacing her weak smile.

...

Blake's wounds were still sore but they were no longer hindering her ability to fight, she had already fended off a dozen Beowolfs and a few Ursas in search of the local White Fang hideout. The lackey she had interrogated said that they had taken over the ruined night club in the slums and were shipping weapons to another location. She didn't hear Adam's name, so there was a chance he wouldn't be there, but if he was then it would finally be time to face him. Blake knew she couldn't win against him, but she just had to fight him, to put an end to this madness even if it meant she couldn't ever see her friends again. Blake arrived outside the nightclub she was told about and began getting ready for a fight, she peered in through a window and surveyed the room, the bar and dance floor were torn apart and there were at least 2 dozen soldiers and a lieutenant carrying a large mechanized pickaxe similar to the chainsaw that the lieutenant from Mount Glenn used.

Blake entered through the window and began to meticulously circle around the building's rafters. "Dammit, he isn't here!" Blake yelled on the inside. Blake saw out of the corner of her eye, something moving on the other side of the glass window on the owner's door. Blake moved towards the door quietly and picked the lock. She carefully opened the door and found the owner of the club as well as a few thugs and two gaudily dressed women tied up and gagged.

Blake crept into the room and closed the door before removing the gag in the owner's mouth. "Blehhck…if you're going to kill us now then get it over with; you've already bled us dry of all our supplies...Blec!" Blake quickly stuffed the gag back in his mouth.

"Not so loud!" Blake hissed in a hushed voice. "I'm not one of them, just tell me what happened, I'm going to remove the gag now, if your voice gets any louder than mine and alerts the guards then I will gut you so fast you will be dead before they open the door. Got that?" The Owner nodded in agreement with a terrified expression. Blake smiled, "Good boy." she said slyly as she removed the gag.

"Now," Blake took out her Gambol Shroud and pointed the shiv at the Owner's neck, "Start talking." she said.

"God dammit," the Owner said in a quiet voice, "how many teenage girls are going to try and kill me this year?" He said, incredibly annoyed. "My name is Junior, and these animals, no offense, took over my whole setup after the city went to shit. You see this club is only a front, in actuality it's part of a dust smuggling network. The White Fang took over because they needed my network to smuggle weapons and troops to the Atleasian capital."

Blake looked confused, "Why would they go to Atlas? It's the most heavily guarded place in the world and they just finished their last attack, they can't be at full strength!" She said worriedly.

Junior grumbled, "I don't know, they said something about striking while the iron was hot. At first they offered me money in exchange for help, but I'm no terrorist so I said no. Then that guy with the Katana showed up…"

Blake's face fell, "That guy, what was his name? Was it Adam?" She asked.

Junior thought for a moment, "Yeah it was" he finally said.

Blake was right, Adam was here, "But why Atlas?" She asked herself. But before she could think on it further the door opened and a Faunus walked in.

"Alright Junior, you and your little club of misfits have lived out your usefulness. It's time to say…" He froze when he made eye contact with Blake and the whole room fell silent for a few seconds before Junior spoke up.

"Hey! Perry! What's up? How has terrorism been working out for you? Let's just all sit down and have a nice..."

Perry quickly pulled out his rifle and aimed it at them but Blake jumped up and shot the gun out of his hand and kicked him out of the doorway, sending him falling till he smashed head first into the bar.

Knowing her cover was blown she leaped out into the center of the destroyed dance floor and began shooting everything that moved. One, two, three, four guards dead before they finally started attacking back. Blake used her clone semblance to slip quickly into the shadows, confusing the guards long enough for her to pounce on a group of them.

The Lieutenant was getting very angry and began yelling. "Damn Maggots! Just kill her already! This operation is too important to be compromised!" He grabbed his weapon and charged at her.

Blake back flipped onto a crate to avoid his swing and then leaped to the railing above and began shooting down at him. The bullets hit but barely seemed to faze him. He clearly had an unlocked aura.

The guards on the upper level began raining suppressive fire down on Blake, forcing her to retreat into a corner. Not wanting to be cornered, Blake tucked and rolled to the nearest cover and started picking off the guards one by one again.

"I've got you now!" The lieutenant yelled. Blake had been so busy slicing through their ranks that she didn't notice him until he was right behind her. She tried to run but he grabbed her and slammed her on the ground, dizzying her. The lieutenant smiled a sadistic smile, raised his pickaxe and said, "This is my lucky day, Adam is sure going to pay quite the hefty price for your dead body, now stop squirming and I'll make it quick!"

Blake snapped, she wasn't going to die here to some no name lackey, no, if Adam was going to have the satisfaction of seeing her dead then he would have to put her down with his own two hands!

She used her semblance in junction with the last of the dust that Weiss gave her on their mission to Mount Glenn and froze him to an icy clone of herself, rendering him completely immobile. "You slimy Bitch!" The man yelled.

Blake jumped from the walkway to pounce on a guard and stabbed him with her weapon. The other guards, who had let their guard down due to thinking their boss killed her, scrambled into a sloppy formation which Blake quickly broke apart. Once she was in the center of the group she let her animal instincts take control. In a blinding flurry she hacked and slashed her helpless foes and easily dispatched them all in less than a minute, leaving them all either dead or bleeding onto the floor.

"ENOUGH!" A voice boomed. The lieutenant had broken free and in a berserk rage at the loss of his men, jumped from the walkway to try and finish Blake off with a single powerful strike. Blake channeled every speck of dust left over, as well as much of her aura, into her blade and leaped into the air to meet his strike. But at the last second she turned her weapon and stabbed him in the stomach piercing his aura for a split second. He howled in pain and the two toppled to the ground.

He staggered to his feet clutching his wound with one hand and his weapon in the other. Blake didn't give him a chance to attack again and threw her grappling hook attachment around his neck causing him to begin choking. He dropped his Pickaxe and started pulling at the rope in a panic, the poor idiot.

With all her might, Blake pulled on the rope and flung him head first into a steel beam so hard it dented. His whole body shuttered before falling to the ground lifelessly.

She fell to her knees in exhaustion and sat there gasping for breath for about a minute before she heard Junior calling from upstairs. "Cat girl where are you? Did you win? If you didn't then...uh…never mind."

She smiled, "I won, be there in a minute."

After freeing Junior and his men from captivity he gave her a bear hug that nearly came closer to ending her life then the fight. "Damn, what are they feeding you kids these days!? First Blondie now you? Anyways have a drink on me!"

She looked at him in shock "Did you say Blondie? You don't mean Yang Xiao Long do you?"

Junior's smile faltered a bit at the mention of her name. "Yeah, she nearly destroyed my club about a year ago. I'm guessing she is a friend of yours?"

"Blake looked down at her feet, "Yeah, we were on the same team at Beacon but she got badly injured during the grimm invasion, and now I'm not sure if she will pull through."

Junior chuckled, "Look on the bright side, at least she will be a lot humbler now."

Blake felt anger rising in her, "What do you know?" She yelled.

Junior sighed, "I wouldn't worry too much about her, from what I've seen not even death can stop her, it would just get her angry." Him and all his men collectively shivered.

Her anger subsided, "You're right, thank you. If you know anything else about what the White Fang is up to I would most appreciate it."

"Well then I guess this is your lucky day pussycat," said a very apathetic voice.

The two gaudily dressed girls walked up holding a rolled up map and gave it to Blake. "This was in one of their rooms, I think it's a plan of attack or something."

Junior scratched his head, "Well let's check it out then" he concluded.

The four of them unrolled the map onto the only unbroken table in the place and recoiled in shock.

"The Schnee Company Headquarters?" Junior yelled. "They really are crazy!"

Blake shook her head in dismay, "No, that would be a suicide mission of the highest order! Why would Adam willingly do something like…" Blake went pale at her realization, "Weiss, he is after Weiss." Blake looked up at Junior hopelessly, "Is there anyway for me to get there in time?"

Junior began frantically reading all the notes on the map, "Bad news and good news. Bad news is that the attack is only a week away, these guys were the last of the troops to head out. The good news is you got here just in time, they were about ready to leave with the last transport and you stopped them." He looked up and smiled, "We're going to move our business to somewhere less Grimm infested, and we'd be happy to drop our savior off in Atlas on the way."

She exhaled a sigh of relief, "Thank you Junior" she said.

Junior turned to his crew and yelled, "Get everything we need men! We're moving our operation to my brother's place in Mistral!"

...

The next night Yang was having dinner with her neighbor and temporary caretaker Mrs. Chestnut.

"That was delicious Mrs. Chestnut. My father could learn a lot from you." Said Yang in a cheerful voice.

The middle aged Woman chuckled, "Oh Yang you're too nice, you did a lot of the work yourself, even with your...um...disadvantage you helped prepare this dish marvelously, I could have just given you the recipe and you could have made it yourself, heck it would have probably been better!"

Yang smiled, "Oh you give me too much credit, It was your wonderful teaching that helped me."

Mrs. Chestnut blushed, "Fine, fine, I'll take the compliment if you're so insistent on giving it. Now I'll clean this up and tomorrow I can teach you how to cook Salmon. I say by the time your father's back you will be the best chef in Patch!"

Yang's smile faded, "Yes...Of course." She said while staring down at her lap.

Mrs. Chestnut took Yang's only hand into her own and said warmly, "You know how it is with men, they constantly feel like they have to protect the ones they love, but that's not a bad thing, I remember when my husband was in his glory days, he would always leave on grand and dangerous adventures for weeks at a time and I always missed him dearly, but he always came back smiling, knowing that what he was doing was right and keeping me safe."

Yang pulled her hand away and started crying, "But that's not how it was supposed to be! It was my turn to go out and see the world, It was my turn to be the one to help people, It was my turn to keep the ones I love safe! Now he and Ruby have to do it for me, and I'm the weak one!" Yang pounded her arm on the table nearly breaking it.

Yang then regained her composure and apologized. Mrs. Chestnut got up and hugged Yang, "Yang sweetie it's ok. This is only a bump on the long and crazy road of your life and you must steel yourself, because this world is both cruel and beautiful, but don't give up just yet, you're an amazing woman with much more than a strong punch to offer. I know this is hard to accept but look on the bright side, you may have just been spared a lot of trouble, for the life of a huntsman is one littered with tragedy."

Yang wiped the tears from her eyes and sniffled, "Thanks, that really helped."

Mrs. Chestnut blushed again, "Oh it was nothing. My, Beautiful, polite, strong, ambitious, and a fine cook? You will make a fine wife for the man of your dreams some day."

Yang laughed, "Well I'm not eyeing anyone right now, who knows what could happen?" She glanced up at the time, "Oh it's already that late? You should really get back home soon."

Mrs. Chestnut looked at the clock and was taken aback. "Oh where has the time gone! Well no use dwelling on it, You sure you can get to bed alright?" She asked.

Yang nodded, "Don't worry, just go home and get some rest, you look really tired."

Mrs. Chestnut kissed Yang on the cheek and began walking to the door, "Well do behave my dear, I will be back again tomorrow." She stepped outside but before closing the door she turned around and said, "Don't be discouraged dear, because when one door closes in your life, another two will always open up." She closed the door behind her and walked away.

The second she was gone Yang's smile turned into a tiered frown, "That is it! I won't stay here and be trained as a housewife while my little sister saves the world!" She said furiously to herself.

An hour later Yang had almost finished packing her bag, she found the lock number for the family safe and took 700 Lien, "Sorry Dad," she said to herself as she put the money in her pocket. Ruby was too sweet to steal any money so she was taking the long hike across the continent to the refuge boats near Vale to get to Haven, but with this money Yang could catch a ride straight to the capital of Mistral and catch up with her. She knew this was a pretty scummy move, but in her condition she wouldn't survive on her own. She need to get there before Ruby or else she may never know where to find her.

She packed enough provisions for the trip as well as a flashlight, some spare clothes, and some extra rounds for her Ember Celica. She only had one of her trusty shotgun bracelets and was severely weakened because of it but she still needed it, not only because it was her only way of defending herself if she is attacked by a Grimm, but because it was a part of her just like her arm and couldn't be taken from her, unless it was by force of course. Lastly, she took her father's large winter coat and clumsily put it on for warmth. She was dressed pretty heavily already compared to her more revealing wardrobe, but she felt it was necessary due to the cold of the winter, even if it did feel very constraining. Once she was done she wrote a goodbye note on the table for Mrs. Chestnut and sneaked out the back door.

"It's a two hour walk that way to the port." She said to herself.

She gazed out at the open dirt road in front of her and deeply inhaled a large quantity of fresh air that smelled of pine trees. She exhaled, feeling more alive since the tournament. "A long and crazy road filled with grand and dangerous adventures, eh?" She smiled her first genuine smile in months. "Boy does the world have an even worse sense of humor than even I do." She looked back at her house one last time before taking off down the road.

 **Author's note: I will try and upload once a week on Saturdays. It may change but I hope to stay consistent.**


	2. Chapter 2: Seen not heard

Weiss was sick of Lobster. The very thought of sitting in her gilded cage, comfy and eating luxury foods while her friends were suffering disgusted her. Her father, Aibori Schnee, was perfectly content with her spending the rest of her life surrounded by a platoon of personal guards.

"I wonder what Ruby has been doing?" Weiss often wondered to herself while looking out her window to the silent streets below. Of all the people she knew Ruby was the only person who could still possibly have a positive outlook on the future after what happened. Team JNPR were down a member and more likely than not in complete shambles.

"Poor Jaune." She thought with a sigh. While she never entertained any of his advances she knew he was a great person at heart, and Pyrrha had fallen for him hard. Weiss would never forget the desperation and fear in his voice when he called her and Ruby begging them to save Pyrrha, a task which the two failed miserably. But none of that stung quite as badly as Blake running off into the night, and the look on Yang's face when she came to and realized that her arm was missing.

"Miss Schnee! Your sister has asked to see you!" A voice cried from beyond her door.

Weiss snapped out of her daze and opened the door to see one of her bodyguards standing stiff in attention. "Hello Yodo, Where is Winter?"

The sergeant saluted her and spoke, "She is waiting at the plaza, I will escort you there ma'am."

Weiss didn't know which annoyed her more, the fact that her father thought she needed this much handholding, or that he had just called her ma'am. "I don't need any help getting there, you're dismissed" she said.

But before she could leave Yodo stepped in front of her, "I insist that I escort you ma'am."

Weiss looked perplexedly at Yodo, he was acting especially clingy, probably because he was the only one of my bodyguards that was on duty and now had her safety lying squarely on his shoulders, "You know I'm a huntsman in training right? A soldier like you won't be much help in a fight against someone who is actually strong enough to threaten me, or do I have to remind my father AGAIN that I could dispatch an entire battalion of Atleasian Knights and a Paladin during the invasion?" She said in an annoyed tone.

Yodo sighed, "I'm just doing my job ma'am, if you get so much as a scratch while i'm on duty then your father will have my head. Now, Winter is waiting, shall we go, ma'am?" He put extra emphasis on the second ma'am as if to specifically annoy her.

Weiss groaned in frustration, "Fine, just don't get in the way." She said as she pushed him out of the way and headed for the plaza.

"There you are, I was starting to get worried!" Winter said with a cheery grin.

"I had a little trouble with my unnecessary protection." She said.

"Yeah blame the guy who's doing his job, real mature!" Yodo said sarcastically.

Winter chuckled, "Now Weiss remember, father is simply scared because of the...events...that transpired a few months ago. He just wants to keep you safe." She said in the most reassuring voice she could manage.

"Since when has he ever cared about my safety? I swear the only reason he wants me protected is because my death would just inconvenience him." Weiss responded in a frustrated manner.

Winter sighed, "You know that's not true! He isn't the best parent, but you can rely on him to protect you."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Weren't you the one telling me to find my own path in life and now you're telling me to stay here?"

Winter rubbed the back of her head, "That was before the White Fang decided to drag the world to hell with them," she said darkly. She then smiled again, continuing to ignore the heavy atmosphere, "Well, no use dwelling on that, I came here to introduce you to someone, she is the daughter of one of Atlas' top engineers who will be of great importance to us in pulling the world out of the gutter." She turned and motioned someone to come over, "She is a huntsman in training just like you and was even at the festival, her name is..."

Weiss did a double take when she saw who it was, "Ciel?!" She said in shock.

The regimented military girl that was penny's partner looked as if she had been through the wringer. Her hair was in split ends and she had bags under her eyes as if she hadn't slept in weeks.

Ciel looked up at Weiss and smiled weakly, "You're Weiss correct? Ruby's team mate?" She said with an uninterested and distant tone, quite unlike the commanding tone that Ruby said she had.

Weiss tried to find a response for her, "Yes, and you must be Ciel from team CPER, It's nice to see you made it out of that tragedy in one piec-" Weiss flinched when she realized how monumentally stupid a comment she was about to make, and judging by the spear like stare in her eyes it probably would have been a fatal one. Winter looked back and forth worriedly between the two girls, she had not anticipated the two knowing each other.

It was Ciel who broke the silence that followed, "In any case aren't we all needed at our fathers' meeting?"

Winter's eyes lit up at the chance to turn the conversation away from what happened to her teammate, "Of course, you know how they are, so fiercely punctual, they won't wait for long, let's go." Winter turned and walked off towards the main building and as far away from the awkwardness of their exchange as fast as she could, expecting them to fall in behind.

Weiss looked at Ciel, "Look I'm really-"

"Save it," she said coldly, "let's just get this meeting over and done with. Now look, we are already falling behind." She said as she looked down at her gold wristwatch.

"Ok," Weiss said in a voice laced with defeat, after a whole year she was still horrible at making friends.

The meeting was just as awkward for Weiss as her conversation with Ciel, only with more yelling. ""This is an outrage Aibori! When I began the project years ago you promised your support! We were going to change the world!" Yelled Ciel's father.

"It's a marvel he can still speak after all this," Ciel muttered to herself. Her father, or Dr. Sol as she had always been told to address him, was a short and plump man with brown skin and a balding white head. His anger made his skin flushed red and caused muscles to pop out on his neck making him look like a little ball of rage ready to burst into flames.

Weiss' father sighed, "Solo my old friend I…"

Sol nearly exploded, "Don't you 'Solo' me! How many times have I told you not to disrespect me by using such an old nickname!"

The two's argument began to devolve into what Winter called, "Sophisticated name calling" causing her to groan in frustration and rub her temples.

Ciel had to fight hard to maintain her composure, she whispered to Weiss, "Honestly, only my father could be egotistical enough to be able to stand here and argue about nicknames while people are out there dying." She clenched her fists and bite her lip to keep her anger in check.

Weiss gave her a perplexed look before turning her attention back to the now ending screaming match.

"This is getting us nowhere fast, just give me the resources to make another!" Said Dr. Sol.

Aibori slammed his hand on his desk, "For what? So it can just be ripped into confetti again in front of the whole world?"

Ciel's anger spiked past the threshold of what she could contain, "Her name was Penny! She was a real person, and don't you dare say something like that about her you-"

Dr. Sol slapped her across the face causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground, "You loud little child! The adults are talking! So stand in line like the soldier I raised you to be!"

Winter carefully stepped in between Ciel and her father to diffuse the situation, "Well it seems that our presence here is distracting you two, we should probably leave," Winter turned to Weiss, "Weiss please bring Ciel to the medical bay and get her some ice while I go speak to the guards." Weiss nodded and quickly gathered Ciel up and walked her out of the room.

"I don't get why Winter was so concerned. My aura is unlocked so that slap didn't hurt at all." Said Ciel with an annoyed grumble.

Weiss chuckled, "I think she was more concerned with the safety of the building if a full fledged fight broke out."

She rolled her eyes, "True, after all…" she looked over her shoulder to look at the guard who had been following them around since the courtyard, "She wouldn't want the employees seeing their bosses at their worst."

"I heard that!" Said Yodo in a very frustrated tone.

Weiss waved her hand at him and said in a dismissive tone, "She is only kidding, don't get your uniform in a twist." Weiss returned her attention to Ciel, "So...did you know that Penny was a robot?" Weiss asked tentatively.

her face muscles tightened, "No, apparently she was one of my father's pet projects, maybe she was only at the school to spy on me, I don't know." She sighed a heavily, "But what I do know is that she was my friend, she may have been a robot but she was much more lively than me or any of my classmates, well except for team FNKI of course." Ciel giggled, "And thank god for her, I probably would have become a mindless grunt if I had to put up with our stick in the mud teammates Ebony and Regulus alone." She looked down at the ground with a sorrowful look.

Weiss, attempted to console her, "Hey, a lot of bad things have happened recently, and I've lost a few close friends as well, if you need to talk about any of this stuff then don't hesitate to contact me."

She smiled, "Thank you, Weiss." She said.

Weiss was glad that Ciel was finally starting to warm up to her, it was nice to find a friend in such a similar situation to her's. The daughter of a powerful businessman who had caged them because they "love them" even if every time they try to have some connection with them they suddenly become an inconvenience. Like they were some toy their fathers bought on a whim and enjoyed for a while before getting bored of it and sticking them on some shelf so they wouldn't have to look at us, but could display us for all to envy. Just some pretty accessories to be seen but not heard.

Weiss suddenly realized that Ciel had started to tenderly caressing a slightly red part of her face. She smiled, "I'm guessing some of that slap got past your aura after all."

She blushed, "Well you know how inconsistent aura can be, one minute you're tanking a punch from a giant mech and the next something like this happens, it's really annoying."

Weiss laughed a bit more loudly than she should have, "Yeah tell me about it, I can help you if you want. We don't have to go all the way to the med bay, I can just use some of my ice dust."

Weiss took out a capsule of dark blue dust from her weapon and held it up to Ciel's face.

"Wait, that is probably not a good idea." She said worriedly.

"Don't worry I know what I'm doing, just watch." Said Weiss.

She popped open the capsule and spread the dust of Ciel's face and connected her aura to it. The dust shimmered and became cool to the touch.

"Feel any better?" Weiss asked.

She nodded, but then suddenly a flash of yellow light jumped from beneath the layer of dust causing Weiss to fall backwards.

"Mrs. Schnee!" Yodo yelled as he stumbled to help her back to her feet.

"I'm alright, just surprised, what was that?" She asked confusedly.

Ciel avoided eye contact and started rubbing her cheek. "Well that is a long story."

Before she could continue an alarm started blaring at an eardrum shattering intensity. "WARNING! HOSTILES DETECTED! WHITE FANG TROOPS EN-ROUTE TO MAIN BUILDING!"

A loud rumble shut down the lights and replaced them with the eerie red emergency ones.

The sounds of shouting and gunshots reverberated down the halls, getting closer and closer, Weiss instinctively unsheathed her trusty Myrtenaster and lowered herself into a battle stance.

"I guess we will have to talk later, god you would think they would be satisfied by now." She said with disdain.

"No, you have to come with me Mrs. Schnee! Your safety is of the utmost importance!" Yelled Yodo.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "just be quiet Yodo, I'm a lot stronger than you, you're 'protection' is just a nuisance."

"Just go with him," Ciel said, "I can deal with these clods myself, just go with him to keep your father from throwing a fit."

Weiss stared at her in confusion, "But..."

She chuckled, "Just look at him, he'd be eaten alive out there in a second, think about it like you're the one protecting him."

"Not cool guys" Yodo said in a pouty voice.

Weiss and Ciel laughed again, "Alright, kick their asses!"

She winked and turned to the hall where the White Fang soldiers would come from and got ready for battle.

Weiss turned and started running, "Alright Yodo you win, now where too?"

Yodo stumbled to keep up, "I have an idea, this way!"

 **…**

It was sunrise by the time Yang boarded a decent ship heading for Mystrial. It had cost her half of the money she took to buy the ticket and some sub par pancakes for breakfast. "Well they can't all be as good as Ren's I guess" She said with a unsatisfied sigh as she crammed the last of her meal into her mouth before getting onboard. Yang began considering her journey as they departed. The ride would take a total of three days, then there would be another day and a half walk to Haven. Yang rubbed her temple and let out an exhausted sigh of frustration, "I doubt they would just let me waltz in there after the fiasco at Beacon. If only I could somehow make contact with Sun or Neptune then I could get in." She said to herself.

Yang looked to her side to and saw a little redheaded faunus girl, probably no older than 7, clutching a little doll that looked like it was suppose to be a huntsman. She was huddling against her mother's waist so closely that she was barely visible, "Mommy" she said in a tired and detached voice, "Where are we going?"

The mom looked down at the girl with a strained smile, "Sweetie it's not safe here right now, We're going to meet up with Daddy in Mystrial where it's safe."

"We'll be coming back right?" The girl asked innocently. "All my friends are here, we can come back right?"

The Mother forced a smile that could only fool a child, "Of course we will, we just need to wait for the good guys to save the day."

The girl looked up and smiled, "You mean the huntsmen?" She said with excitement.

"Yes the Huntsmen," the mother said.

"Bah, who cares about the bloody Huntsmen? They can rot in hell for all I care!" Said a young voice.

Three sailors that looked like they were in their early twenties turned from their work on the other side of the boat and walked over to the two. "You still believe in those Hacks? They did a great job saving Vale didn't they?" One of them said with disdain.

"They don't really care about us, they only care about flaunting their power for the government's' amusement! Fancy pets are all they really are and what happened in the city proves it!" Said another one.

The one in the center who appeared to be the leader of the group began to speak in a voice familiar to Yang, "They abused our trust to gain power for their kingdoms and now look what happened! Vale is in shambles, Mistral and Atlas are at eachothers throats, and all your precious huntsmen are running with their tails between their legs to Vacuo for a damn meeting while us commoners are left here as fodder for the grimm!"

Yang looked on with curiosity, wondering where the argument would go.

"You're wrong! The little girl yelled, "The Huntsmen and Huntresses are the good guys! Good guys always come back after a defeat and save the day!"

The sailors laughed and then the leader spoke, "What is this, some kind of fairy tale to you? Heroes don't exist, and if they did they would have stopped your kind from ruining our lives!" He and his gang stepped forward towards the mother and daughter as if they were ready to assault them, "Speaking of which, I'm surprised you aren't off celebrating with your terrorist brothers? What is your gain here?"

The mother grabbed her daughter and started slowly backing up, "You said it yourself, thanks to the White Fang it's now very dangerous to be a Faunas in Vale, that's why we need to go to Mistral! To get away from those monsters just like anyone else."

The leader waved his hand dismissively, "Yeah, yeah save it, I have heard that sob story from every one of you animals that come through here wanting a ticket out of here, it's disgusting," He spat at the ground in front of the mother, "Do you know how many good and honest people we could be bringing to safety? But no, you furballs keep clogging up the lines and leaving them here in danger! Why can't your kind just stay in the dirt where you belong!" He yelled.

One of his goons started getting jumpy, "Yeah, this mess is all your fault!"

The other goon chimed in, "Yeah, you made your bed so you should have to lie in it!"

The three of them began to close in around them and Yang knew that if she didn't intervene now things would end badly. She jumped up from her seat and landed right in front of the goons and shoved the leader back with her only hand. He fell to the ground with a thud and his two goons backed away slightly. Yang spoke, "Go back to work Sheldon, this is beneath even you."

"Y-Yang!" Said Sheldon with wide eyed wonder.

"Long time no see eh? You're every bit as bigoted as I remember."

Sheldon squirmed his way to his feet while spouting curses at Yang, it was just like old times Yang mused. Sheldon and Yang used to date back when she was just starting combat school but it had ended pretty quickly do to Sheldon's slightly abusive attitude towards her. Yang was never sad about the break up, partly because his last words to her where, "Fine, dump me you ungrateful whore! Blond bimbos like you are a dime a dozen here on patch!" Luckily for the women of the world Yang had beat the shit out of him for insulting her and the humiliation of that ruined any plans he had of getting another date.

"You ugly bitch!" Sheldon yelled as he staggered to his feet. "How dare a huntress like you show your face around here!" He continued.

Yang stared him down, "Like I'd tell you, just leave these people alone."

Sheldon smirked, "Or what? You'll break my leg like that kid in the tournament?"

Yang winced and Sheldon's smirk widened, "It's sad Yang, sad that people like you are turned into those huntsmen brutes, tell me, did it feel good to ruin his life? His career?"

She felt her anger boiling inside, "Not one more word" she said.

Sheldon's eyes wander to Yang's missing arm and he began to laugh, "Ha! It looks like karma's just as much of a bitch as you are! An arm for a leg, how poetic."

Yang armed her gauntlet and got into a fighting stance, "You want to fight, huh? Just remember, I don't need both arms to beat you and your friends into the ground!"

Sheldon and his goons scrambled away from Yang, "No, I'm sorry! Don't punch me again!" He yelled as he ran away.

Yang felt a slight tug on her jacket, she looked down to see the little girl smiling up at her, "Thank you miss punchy lady!" She said with a smile that melted Yang's heart.

Yang squatted down to meet her at eye level, "Aww, no trouble, just make sure to be nicer than those guys Ok?" The little girl nodded.

The mother took her daughter's hand and looked at yang with a genuine smile. "Thank you so much." she said.

The two of them offered to pay Yang, but she said it wasn't necessary, so they went their separate ways as more people piled onto the boat. As the boat began to disembarking, and the sun finally rose above the horizon, Yang looked down at her hand and sighed once more, "Ruby..." she said to herself as she thought of the things that Sheldon said, "If you're going to save this world then boy do you have your work cut out for you."

 **…**

Ruby and her team of misfits had already packed up camp and had been on the road for at least two hours once the sun was fully up. "If we keep up this pace we should be at the capitol in ten days" said Jaune as he was looking down at his map.

Ruby smiled, "And then it's just a matter of contacting Sun and bam we're in Haven! Man, I thought this journey was going to be a lot harder!" she said in a perky tone.

"Don't Jinx it." said Jaune bitterly.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I didn't mean to sound cocky." she responded quickly.

"It's fine, just don't do it again" he said.

Ren and Nora exchanged worried looks, Jaune may be understanding of Ruby when it comes to dealing with flashbacks, but over the course of their journey he had had no patience for anything that got in their way. Ren tried to break the awkward silence first, "I can't wait till we're in the city, I'm tired of cooking with wild animal meat and our canned provisions. Just think guys, you're only a few days away from being able to have my pancakes again!" He said with one of his rare smiles.

Nora and Ruby Immediately lit up with excitement, "Oh that would be the greatest thing ever!" Ruby squealed.

Nora's mouth began to water, "Oh and syrup, sweet, sweet maple syrup! Oh how I have missed it!" She mused.

Ren shook his head, "No Nora, I'm not letting you anywhere near that stuff, You will just drink it! I would like to finally eat my pancakes the way they were intended to be!"

Nora gasped, "But that's not fair!" She pouted as she turned to Jaune, "Jaune! Ren is bullying me!" She said in her normal infectiously cheery tone.

He sighed and replied monotonously without even looking at her, "Come on guys, you know you shouldn't make plans too far in advance, it's practically daring the world to make it blow up in your face."

That response had shut Nora up instantly. And they continued on in an even more awkward silence for another ten minutes before Ren spoke up again, "God dammit Jaune, we can't take this anymore!" This outburst made the whole rest of the group jump back in shock, Ren was the absolute last person they thought would lose his cool.

"What are you talking about!" Replied Jaune.

"This" Ren said in a frustrated tone. "You have been acting more Emo then Blake and me combined on this trip! Just talk to us!"

Jaune scowled, "We can talk about this when he get to Haven, now let's move." Jaune turned away but Ren put his hand on his shoulder, "I think I speak for all of us when I say that we probably won't survive the trip if this atmosphere keeps up."

He turned back to him and stared him down.

Nora pushed the two apart, "Ok, I think this is a good time to take a break, so why don't we all just-"

"Fine!" The two men said in unison before storming away from each other.

Nora sighed, and walked towards Ruby, "Let's go take a bathroom break before we hit the road again" she said.

Ruby looked over at the guys, Jaune had slumped down next to a tree and began examining their supplies while Ren paced back and forth angrily.

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

After they managed to get themselves a good distance from the others Nora spoke up, "I'll be just a minute, go stand over by that tree and wait for me" she said.

Ruby nodded and walked off while Nora went behind some bushes to answer nature's call.

Ruby sighed as she leaned up against an old tree, "This is a mess" she thought to herself, but before she could continue her train of thought someone grabbed her and pulled her behind the tree. "Wha-" Ruby couldn't finish her cry for help because her attacker had put their hand over her mouth. Ruby tried to struggle but whoever this mystery person was, they were stronger than her and had wrestled her to the ground. Ruby looked up to see the person's face and was horrified by what she saw. "Neo!" She screamed internally.

The short and silent protege of Roman Torchwick had pinned her to the ground and was reaching for her umbrella. Her previously perfect multi-colored hair was now a mess filled with split ends, her clothes were rugged and dirty, and her dichromatic eyes were overflowing with anger and spite. She pulled the handle off of her umbrella to reveal a small, sharp, sword that glittered in the sunlight. She had the smile of a serial killer on her face as she was about to bring the sword down upon Ruby. Nora came running out from behind the bushes, Magnhild in hand screaming Ruby's name. Neo muttered a curse under her breath and rolled away, narrowly missing Nora's swing. She immediately got to her feet and dashed off into the woods.

"She is getting away!" Nora yelled.

Ruby staggered to her feet, "Get Ren and Jaune, I'll keep on her tail" she launched off at full speed with her semblance without even waiting for a response. She was fast approaching Neo who kept bobbing and weaving through the trees in an attempt to shake her but to no avail, Ruby was not going to let one of the people responsible for all this get away. The two reached a clearing that sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking a large ravine with a raging river at the bottom. Neo looked around in a panic before coming to the realization that she was cornered.

Ruby stepped into the middle of the clearing, "Give it up Neo, surrender and I won't have to kill you!" She boomed. Neo drew her blade and charged at Ruby who easily dodged her strike. "Somethings not right," she thought, "She was a lot more agile than this back in Vale, what is different this time?"

Neo lashed out again but stumbled when she missed and had to take a second to get herself back into battle position which gave Ruby a chance to notice the bags under her eyes, it appeared that she hadn't slept in days.

She charged at Ruby again but stopped abruptly when the two heard a loud explosion from a distance. Ruby looked up into the sky and saw Nora soaring over the tree line on her hammer. "You might want to stand back!" Ruby yelled with a smirk as she ran from the blast zone. Neo looked around bewilderingly before seeing Nora, but it was too late.

Nora was already right above her and had assumed an attack position and was about to bring the hammer down onto her, "BOOP!" She screamed with delight as her hammer collided with the ground, launching Neo backwards and nearly off the side of the cliff and causing Ruby to fall to the ground.

"Don't you think that was a little over the top?" Said Ren as he and Jaune emerged from the tree line.

Jaune ran to Ruby's side and gave her a hand, "Thanks," said Ruby.

He gave her a stern look, "You shouldn't have run off like that, you could have gotten yourself killed!" He yelled angrily.

"Okay, I'm sorry," said Ruby in an embarrassed tone. Jaune's face softened a bit as if he was about to give Ruby a few words of encouragement to cheer her up, but Neo began to rise to her feet and his face hardened once more.

She was very dizzy and had to hold her arms out like wings to keep herself steady. The four of them closed in around her until Nora and Neo made eye contact.

Nora stepped back in shock, "Vanilla! Is that you?"

Ren looked at Nora dumbfounded, "Wait, what?" He examined Neo closely and stood back aghast. "It is! But how is that possible?"

Neo regained her balance and looked back and forth between Nora and Ren before donning the same look of shock.

"Wait, who is Vanilla?" said Jaune with a similar look of confusion.

"Yeah, this is Neo, the henchman that was working with Roman that I told you about" added Ruby.

Ren shook his head, "Vanilla was another girl from our orphanage who disappeared when we were young."

Nora looked longingly at the startled Neo, "She looks so much like her, it can't be a coincidence!"

Before she could respond, a large crack appeared in the cliff side and the ground began to shake. "Crap, Nora's attack destabilized the ground! The whole cliff is going to fall!" Yelled Ren. The crack doubled in size and the ground gave way under Neo causing her to fall backwards into the ravine.

"NO!" Nora yelled. Ruby on instinct ran to the edge of the cliff and grabbed Neo's hand.

"Don't worry, I got you!" she said. Neo looked up at Ruby, her face a strange mixture of relief, anger, and confusion. Suddenly the footing beneath Ruby gave way, resuming Neo's fall with her along for the ride.

"Ruby!" Her friends collectively screamed before the two of them hit the water's surface and everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

The battle felt like it went on for ages, the fires seemed to burn on for an eternity, the screams of the innocents caught in the crossfires was ceaseless. The worst part of it all was that Weiss was getting used to it. After the night of horror she experienced at Vale, with rampaging robots and grimm, tearing through White Fang ranks felt dull and boring. What that said about Weiss' personality, she didn't know but it couldn't be good. "This area is secure, everyone take a breather!" Said the captain of security that was leading their group.

The dozen guards that were with us slumped to the ground panting from exhaustion. "But we need to keep moving!" Yelled Yodo. He was leaning on his gun trying to catch his breath and cleaning his cracked visor, but otherwise he was in surprisingly good shape for a green horned rookie in the middle of war.

"These guys need a break, we can't go on like this forever" said the Captain. She stared him down with a gaze that could strike fear into the core of even the most vile of grimm. Weiss had only met the captain a few times before but she had heard rumors about her strength and service history. Apparently before being hired by Weiss' father she was a very renowned huntress and even taught at Atlas academy for a few years. Her track record of 15 years without an incident at the company had been shattered today, and you could see from the silent anger in her eyes that she was ready to kill every White Fang grunt in the building.

"Captain Aveline!" A soldier yelled as they sprinted towards the group in a panic.

"What is wrong private?" The Captain asked.

The soldier was about to collapse from exhaustion, "The White Fang is launching another wave of attack on the building! They are surging up from the sewers like rats!"

The Captain's punched the nearby wall in a fit of rage, cracking the cement, "Dammit! If the army can't get things under control soon the whole upper district will be swallowed in chaos! We can't afford another tragedy like Vale!"

Weiss groaned in dismay, "How many could there be? It's as if the entire White Fang army is here."

Yodo coughed and then spoke, "That sounds about right, The Schnee dust company has been their archenemy for years now, if they were going to go to all out war with it then they would have only gotten one shot at it so they would have to make it count." He shook his head dismally, "And boy have they made it count" he said.

Aveline took deep breath to regain her composure, "We need to cut this break short men, if we are going to have any chance of winning this day with our lives intact then we have to reach the weapons vault asap!"

Yodo scoffed, "And what do you think I have been saying? If I was leading we would have been there by now but NO, you old women and your incessant breaks are going to cost us the victory!"

Aveline rolled her eyes, "Stand in line soldier or you will have to fight these terrorists on your own."

Weiss didn't speak up but she agreed with Yodo, They had spent the last half hour fighting their way to the weapons vault where the Paladins were stored so they could use them. It was of the utmost importance because the Captain was one of only five people who knew the password to open it. The other 4 being Ironwood, Winter, Father, and Dr. Sol but the general was not here and judging by the way the battle was going the others hadn't made it there yet.

"Private, go find other groups and tell them to head to the vaults! We will converge our troops there and begin our counter attack!" The messenger saluted her and ran off into the battle once again. Aveline turned to us and yelled, "Alright men move out! No more breaks till the compound has been retaken!" The soldiers all groaned as they stood up to continue on with their suicide mission.

The main building's interior was completely sacked and full of White Fang troops, they slashed through them as quick as we could but lost several of their men in the process but there was no time for morning, they had to keep moving. Two floors down, three, four, five, finally they reached the bottom floor and found the door to the vault. There was already a unit of White Fang soldiers trying to crack it open but to no avail, Weiss' group, now down to only her, Aveline, Yodo, and about six others quickly dispatched them and began to unlock the door.

Yodo sighed as he looked down at the dead bodies of the White Fang members, "Idiots, this door is made of some of the toughest materials on the planet, They were sitting ducks here" he shook his head in disgust. Just as we dispatched them several other groups of soldiers entered and our ragtag team was soon up to fifty.

Yodo turned to Aveline, "We need to get this door open soon."

As if on cue the sounds of a small army marching echoed down the halls. "Crap!" Weiss yelled, "Looks like the brunt of their army is coming straight for us!"

"It's now or never!" Yelled Yodo in a booming voice.

In a controlled panic Aveline darted for the keypad on the door and began typing in a long code while Yodo took off his backpack and began to frantically pass out extra rounds of ammunition to the members of their wounded company.

"Level 1 access code accepted, please give vocal code" said the security lock.

Aveline slammed her finger down onto the unlock button on the security pad and yelled, "MIRROR'S REFLECTION!"

A clicking sound rang through the room followed by the electronic voice replying, "Access granted, have a nice day and be sure to use the contents of this vault to protect what's right."

Yodo pulled a multi colored disc from the bottom of his pack and smiled, "But of course" he said. Yodo tossed the device into the room, a split second later the device exploded into a massive fire that narrowly missed incinerating Weiss. She was knocked down to the ground forcefully by the blast and the fires burnt part of her clothes to a ominous black color, aside from that she was unharmed, but some of soldiers were not so lucky, many were dead, strewn about the floor. The others were scrambling to their feet, completely disoriented and scared. Weiss rushed over to the Captain who was staggering to her feet.

"What happened!" Weiss said, still in a state of shock.

The captain groaned, she was in bad shape, parts of her armor were gone and she was bleeding, meaning that her aura had been broken in the blast. "Help me into one of the paladins" she said between gasps, "We need to get ready no matter what happ-"

Suddenly a shot rang out from across the room and landed squarely in her face, her head reeled back and then slumped to the side, completely lifeless. Weiss jumped back and dropped her body, she turned to where the shot came from and saw Yodo standing with a rifle in hand, a wide grin on his face. He swerved around and shot off several more bullets, instantly killing several more guards before they even knew what hit them. The remaining guards shot blindly at Yodo in a state of panic. Several shots hit him but they barely fazed him. "Did he have an unlocked aura?" Weiss thought.

Yodo rolled to the nearest cover and sprayed the guards with a hail of bullets killing them all.

He stood up and smiled even wider, "Oh you humans really are bad at this, one guy outsmarts a whole platoon? That is rich!" He turned to face the corpses of the White Fang troops we killed with a frown, "I guess our guys aren't much better," he said disappointedly. He turned on his heel and looked Weiss in the eyes, "Maybe I'm just special like you Miss Schnee, destined for greatness."

Weiss rose to her feet and assumed a wobbly fighting position, "What happened to the real Yodo?" She demanded.

The imposter laughed, "Dead in some alleyway for the past few days" Man you guys really are all stupid aren't you? But I guess it's meaningless anyhow, you pompous pricks couldn't tell your servants apart if your life depended on it" he chuckled as if he caught himself in an accidental pun, "And you know what? I guess it did depend on it." He aimed his gun at Weiss but she was faster, she used her glyphs to launch herself forward and she slashed the gun out of his hand before he could fire and knocked him to the ground.

"I don't know who you are but you White Fang thugs have destroyed everything, this building, Vale, the faunus' good name, and Blake and Yang's lives! Prepare to pay!" She yelled, but before she could strike the man jumped up from the ground at lightning speed and punched her hard in the face. She flinched and stumbled backwards, tripping on a piece of metal, and falling to the ground.

He laughed, "That last one is a riot, ripe with irony, too!" He pulled a long black sword sheath from his pack, "If you think you can make me pay then go ahead," he removed his helmet which revealed a White Fang mask and dark red hair and black horns, "Make...My...Day."

He unsheathed his red katana and brought it down on Weiss, she blocked the blast with her rapier but still felt the sheer force of his attack. "This power," She thought, "Is this the power that beat Yang in one hit!? It's unreal, Who is this guy?"

He gave Weiss a low kick to the stomach, causing her to fly several feet across the room and landing on one of the soldiers dead bodies. He looked around and marveled at all the death and destruction around him before saying, "You know I really should stop meeting Blake's friends like this, it doesn't give us much time to chat" he glanced at Weiss with disdain "Chat about how you corrupted her, turned her against her own kind!"

Weiss lunged at him but Adam casually knocked her aside, "I believe proper introductions are in order. Hello, I'm Adam Taurus, second in command of the glorious Faunus revolution, the right hand man to Lord Damu, the prophet of the White Fang and author of _The Third Crusade_."

Weiss used the opening his monologue he gave her to try another attack, this time dust powered. The attack hit him but did no significant damage, Adam reacted quickly and roundhouse kicked Weiss into the wall. "Oh? A feisty one aren't we? That one really hurt, if you were born a Faunus you would have made lieutenant status easily." Weiss tried to regain her balance but she was seeing stars and she fell flat on her back. She could feel her aura about to break any second and the sounds of White Fang troops approaching was getting louder.

Adam sighed, "Well I guess I better finish this quick. Sorry but you know how it is right? I can't be seen fraternizing with a human; my squad would never let me live it down! So if you could just die-"

He stepped on Weiss' abdomen and drew his blade, "-That would be great!"

Suddenly there was flash of light and a figure jumped at Adam through the darkness and toppled him to the ground.

"Blake!" Weiss yelled in relief, she thought happily, these past few months she thought that she would never see her moody, cat eared, friend ever again.

Blake and Adam wrestled each other for a few seconds before she got the upper hand and reached for her Gambol Shroud. She shot two rounds into Adam's face but they only broke his mask which just made him angry. He pushed Blake off him with all his might which sent her flying off into the wall next to Weiss. She immediately sprung up and stood between Weiss and Adam, "You're not going to lay one finger on her you bastard!" She screamed.

Weiss was astounded by the sheer determination in Blake's eyes, and the stonewall protectionism seemed to have settled into every inch of her face.

"You always have to ruin the fun now don't you my love" said Adam with disdain dripping from every word. Without his mask Weiss could see his eyes. They were cruel, blood red balls of fury that could scare a weak willed person to death. "How did the old saying go?" Weiss thought, "Eyes are the windows to the soul" if that was true then there would be nothing that could convince her that this thing had any more of a soul than a grimm.

"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Blake yelled.

Adam scoffed, "Tell me my love, what is the definition of insanity?"

Blake didn't answer. Adam looked genuinely hurt by this, "Not in the mood to indulge me in a bit of philosophy, my love? That is truly a shame. Anyways the answer is that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result"

He smiled a crooked and sadistic smile, "And here we are, an exact reenactment of our last meeting. So tell me Blake, do you have an ace up your sleeve to turn the tide of battle?" His smile widened, "Or are you simply insane?"

Blake's eyes widened in fear. Adam sheathed his katana, "Well time is short and I have an entire race of humans to bring to their knees so I really must bid you-" The sounds of the White Fang army told Blake and Weiss that they were right around the corner, aside from the side hall that Blake came from, they were completely trapped. Fleeing down the side hall would buy them barely any time at all, it was hopeless! A high pitched humming sound erupted from Adam's sheath, he was charging up for an attack that would vaporize them, "-Adieu" a ray of blinding Red light came barreling towards them.

"This is it," Blake thought. Everything went into slow motion, She could see her life flashing before her eyes just like it had when she fought him at Vale. Every mistake put on replay for her to view one last time. Joining the White Fang, falling for Adam, letting Spring down, running from it all, getting her friends involved, running again, all of it laid bare as if the gods were shoving it in her face and making her judge whether she lived her life right, whether she deserved paradise or damnation. She felt tears starting to tip over her eyelids, she failed miserably for the last time. Her one chance to make up for what happened was gone. It was over, "I'm sorry" she whispered, even though she knew no one could hear her.

A stern voice boomed from the hall behind them, "Move you idiotic boobs!"

Suddenly a white flash tackled Weiss and Blake to the ground, the blast from Adam's laser smashed into the wall behind them sending scrap metal flying everywhere.

"God Dammit!" Yelled Adam in frustration.

Blake rose to her feet to see their savior, She looked like Weiss only much older, with a fancy white suit and a military demeanor. "Winter!" Weiss yelled with relief.

Winter turned to look at them, her gaze filled with ferocity, "You're her teammate, Blake, right? Get her out of here now! I'll handle this."

Blake nodded and grabbed Weiss. She began to struggle, "Hey wait, put me down I can still fight!" She yelled.

Adam lunged at the two of them, "You're not getting away!" He yelled.

Winter jumped in front of them and stopped the attack with her swords.

The roar of the approaching army came thundering down the corridor as if it was just around the corner. Adam smiled again, "This little rescue is meaningless! You're all trapped!"

Winter smiled back, "Adam was it? I believe this is the first time we have met, my name is Winter Schnee and I believe I need to teach you a lesson about strategy, you never play your trump card-" she kicked him in the shin causing him to fall backwards which gave her the chance to go on the offensive, "Till the very end!"

Just as she finished the hoard of White fang troops turned the corner but from the side hallway that she came from a platoon of Atlesian soldiers burst out into the room and began shooting into the crowd. The front lines of the hoard fell to the ground and the others staggered back, they clearly weren't expecting resistance. "WHAT!?" Adam yelled in fury.

"How was this possible?" Blake thought in amazement, "The sounds of the two groups marching must have all mixed together in the confusion, they used their enemies advancement as cover for their counter attack!" She thought.

Several soldiers broke off from the Atlesian line and ran into the vault towards the Paladins, "NO!" Yelled Adam. He tried to attack them but Winter lunged at him and blocked his strike. She turned her head to stare Blake in the eyes, "GO NOW!" She yelled.

Blake tried to sling Weiss over her shoulders but she continued to struggle, "No I won't go!" Weiss screamed.

Winter's knees were beginning to wobble under the force of Adam's attack, it seemed that even a professional Huntress would not be strong enough to defeat Adam, "Blake, you need to take her and run, run and keep running! Don't stop till you leave the continent! Make sure she is safe!"

Blake nodded solemnly. She turned on her heels and bolted out into the hall that the soldiers came through, and she kept running, up every flight of stairs, down every hallway, past every corpse and fire, she kept running till the sounds of the battle in the vault weren't even audible, and even then she kept running. "Stop!" Weiss sobbed, tears running down her face.

Blake looked away from her, "I can't" she said.

Weiss thrashed violently, "I won't be some damsel in distress that gets her ass saved every five seconds! I won't!" She kept squirming till Blake lost her grip and dropped her.

Weiss immediately stood up and tried to run back down the hall but nearly collapsed, "You don't have to do this, just come with me so you can be safe!" Blake shouted.

Weiss ignored her and began limping, "I don't care, I'm not leaving her behind!" she grunted.

Blake grabbed her and stared her down, "You can't ever beat Adam! He won't just kill you, he will destroy everything you have ever known! He is like a natural disaster, unstoppable and devastating, the only way to win is to run in the opposite direction and pray that we can escape!" She screamed in desperation.

Weiss faltered for a moment then pushed back in anger, "I'm not running! I'm not a coward like you!" She bellowed.

Blake let go and stared, jaw dropped, at Weiss. Weiss realized that she went too far and attempted to apologize, "Blake, I'm so sorry, I-"

Blake put up her hand to stop her, "No, you're right," She curled her hand up into a fist and punched Weiss in the face which knocked her out instantly. Blake kneeled down and started crying, "I really am a filthy coward." She lifted Weiss' unconscious body and slung it over her shoulder as she resumed her escape.

…

"Follow me she said, you will never go hungry again she said. Just commit an act of damn terrorism, It will be easy she said!" These angry thoughts had been on Emerald's mind nearly every day for the last several months, she wasn't sure why she stuck around after Cinder's "Brilliant" plan made her public enemy number one. Of course nobody knew that it was her who helped, according to history she was Emerald Sustrai, second year student at Haven academy who was one of the countless innocents that tragically died during the horrible White Fang attack on Vale. She sighed, "If only the truth were so simple" she thought. Over the past two years Emerald had learned that truth was much stranger than fiction, from learning that one of the fairy tales she loved as a kid was actually true to seeing Cinder looking more like a demon than a human when she staggered out of that explosion caused by that damn brat Ruby. And now she was sneaking into a high security prison in the barren wastes of the north Mystrial coast with some cloaked master assassin, who she didn't know whether he was there to help her or kill her. "We're almost at the solitary confinement chambers" he said.

Emerald jumped, she always lost track of where he was when he wasn't talking so he always ended up behind her, "Right, we just kill the guards and set our two targets free? Right?"

He nodded, "You have their weapons right?"

Emerald nodded and double checked her bag for them, One was a pair of electrified batons that doubled as sub-machine guns. The other was probably the oddest weapon she had ever seen, it was a collapsible mic stand with the detachable mic piece that seem the be carefully engraved with high quality ice dust.

"Let's move" the assassin darted forward like lightning without thunder and traveled seamlessly through the shadows. Emerald sighed, every second she spent with this creep made her regret not running from all this like Merc did, but she knew that it was too late for that, she chose her path.

Once they entered the solitary confinement chambers he quickly dispatched all the guards with a few well placed bullets. They sparked a strange dark green color on impact that lead Emerald to believe that they were a combo of dust and aura that were designed for maximum damage to the target, but of course this was all speculation, he moved so fast she couldn't even get a good look at his weapon, and she couldn't guess based on sound because he seemed to have a silencer on them so they wouldn't attract attention. Fitting for an assassin.

"Who is out there," said a voice from one of the large cells.

Emerald opened the door and looked in the room. It was pitch black but she could tell it was completely padded like one you would find in a mental ward and there was a thin figure in a straight jacket lying in the shadows with nothing but his bright orange eyes clearly visible. The figure looked at Emerald with excited intrigue.

Then his eyes moved to the assassin and he began panting, "Oh Goodie!" He said gleefully, "If it isn't my old pal Cyan! Tell me, which one of my enemies hired you to come all the way here to kill me? Was it a friend of that Faunus family I killed 7 years ago?"

Cyan smiled, "Which one? Didn't you slaughter half a village that day?"

The man in the straight jacket chuckled, "Touche, touche, well, get it over with so I can meet my maker, and boy do I have a few choice words for him!"

Cyan chuckled back, "No, in fact my employer needs your assistance with some work that requires your special brand of crazy" he said as he pulled out his gun and shot off the locks on his straight jacket. The man shook off the jacket and, much to Emerald's surprise, tackled her to the ground.

"Why hello there pretty!" The man said while his burning, malicious eyes was hovering inches above Emerald's face. His matted red and black hair was covered in dirt, his beady eyes making him look so much like a hyena that Emerald wondered if he was a faunus.

The man looked up at Cyan and laughed, "Don't tell me Cyan, did you have more than one bastard child or have you been flirting with the younger crowd these days?"

Cyan sighed amusedly, "Actually she is a henchmen of my employer, so please don't assault her while I'm babysitting" he said.

The man got up, still smiling wide, "Well little girl I guess I have to introduce myself, names Carbuncle Cascade, former Huntsman and murderer at your service." He turned to Cyan,

"So am I the only one you're picking up or is my brother getting the same treatment as me?"

"But of course," said Cyan as he turned to the other cell across the room.

They unlocked the door to find an admittedly handsome man with blue and white hair and a stoic face locked up in chains suspended from the floor.

He looked at us enthusiastically, "So you freed my brother before me eh? Typical, everyone always liked him better, even Ma and Pa."

His brother laughed, "Oh come on bro, stop wallowing in self pity for once!"

Cyan shot the chains down. The man landed gracefully on his feet and began to remove the shackles, "Thank you, you wouldn't believe how much those chafed." He said in a depressed voice.

Emerald remembered something that might cheer the man up, "Oh, sir I think I have your weapon right here."

The man's face lit up like holiday lights the second she mentioned his weapon, "You mean it?! Give it here!" He yanked the the mic stand from her hand and did a spin on his heels, "Oh baby! I'm back in the show business!" He struck a pose and shook his hips in a very old school fashion. He pointed his finger at Emerald, "I am eternally grateful to you baby, I might just write you a song!"

Emerald was completely taken aback by the man's complete mood change that she couldn't think straight, "Um… No thanks…"

The man recoiled from her rejection as if it physically hurt him, "Oh baby, that stung! How on earth can you resist the sheer masculinity of the one, the only…" he slid on his knees towards her and sung into his mic.

"Azure~ Cascade~!"

He looked up at her with his sharp green eyes and said, "Azure Cascade at your service honey." He winked creepily at her making a shiver run down her spine.

Once they were both out of their cells and were reequipped, Cyan told them what they were needed for, "So my Boss requires the very eccentric talents that you two possess to further their goals," he handed Azure a slip of paper, "You are to head to these coordinates in Atlas, there will be a team there ready to help you resume your, 'experiments'"

Azure smiled, "You sir and ma'am have made me the happiest man alive, I won't let you down!"

Cyan looked at Emerald, "You are going with him" he said.

Emerald nearly threw up, "You're sending me with him!?" She said in disbelief.

Azure laughed, "Don't worry baby we can use that time to-" he winked again, "Get to know each other better, rawwr."

Emerald, sighed and said in a sarcastic tone, "This is my life now, I am in hell."

Carbuncle turned to Cyan with a hungry smile, "And what do you two have planned for little old me?"

Cyan spoke, "Well before we give you your first real assignment we need to get you into shape again," He pulled out a folder from his cloak and dropped it on the ground, opening it. Emerald winced, in the folder were pictures of Ruby Rose, Jaune Ark, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie. "Let's start with some target practice." he finished.

Carbuncle smiled like a child on Christmas morning, "That I can do Cyan, that I can do."


	4. Chapter 4: Gather Round the Campfire

**Sorry for the late upload today, family drama demanded my attention this afternoon but I hope this chapter is worth the wait. Please leave a review if you can!**

Weiss eventually came to by the sound of two girls arguing, "We need to head to Atlas academy!" Said one girl.

"No, we need to head for Haven, Sun will be able to help us" said the other.

The first girl let out a strained laugh, "You think he can help us more than the Atlesian fleet?"

The second girl groaned in frustration, then replied sarcastically, "Yes because they have been so helpful, just think how much worse Vale would have been if their soldiers didn't go crazy and try to kill us!"

Weiss opened her eyes to find the owners of the voices to be Ciel and Blake, who were staring each other down near a fire. It was nighttime and they were in the woods, with the only visible light coming from their small campfire.

Blake turned to see Weiss who was stirring and her face softened, "Weiss, it's good to see you up" she walked towards her.

Weiss rose to her feet and shot Blake a murderous look, "There are easier ways to kidnap someone than to nearly kill them you know?" She said angrily.

Blake stared down at her hands, "You wouldn't leave, you were going to die and I had a promise to keep."

Weiss rolled her eyes, Blake looked back up at Weiss and Ciel with renewed confidence, "And I still need to keep it, we are not safe in Atlas territory anymore, we need to head for Haven!"

Ciel clenched her fists in anger, "You want to stay safe from the White Fang but you want to head to Mystral? That is where their main headquarters is! If you really want to leave the continent so bad then we should head for Shade! That is where all the huntsman are meeting, we can use Weiss and my names to get us to the Vacuo capital and tell everyone what happened. We will be safe in Shade and the White Fang will have an army of Huntsmen at their doorstep!"

Blake ran her fingers through her hair, it was tangled with split ends and knots and the bow that she had used to hide her faunus identity was gone, probably lost in the battle. She finally spoke, "Trust me, I know the landscape of Mystral like the back of my hand, I lived there most of my life, if we go to Shade we thrust ourselves into the spotlight, we are on the run and i'm not sure the Huntsmen can be trusted" she said.

Ciel scoffed, "Can't trust the Huntsmen? If you aren't going to trust the closest thing to heroes that this world has then you can't trust anyone" she said in an aggravated tone.

Blake turned to Weiss, "You have to believe me Weiss, I just have this feeling in my gut that the huntsmen are going down a bad path, if we can get to Haven we can meet up with Sun and the others, that is the only place we could be safe..." she said solemnly.

Ciel turned to Weiss, "Well I guess you're the tie breaker then, where to? Shade or Haven?"

Weiss looked between the two of them with a dumbfounded expression, everything had happened so fast, just this morning she had wished to escape her father and now she was fleeing for her life from the White Fang, not even knowing if her family was still alive.

Blake shook her head, "We're all tired right? Let's discuss this later, regardless of where we go we still need to get to the nearest port, so we don't have to make a decision immediately" she said.

Ciel glanced at both of them before sighing, "Waste of time," she muttered before walking off to the other side of the campsite and laid down.

Blake turned to Weiss with a sorrowful look, "Please forgive me, I couldn't bare to see Adam hurt another friend" she said.

Weiss, was about to explode at Blake but hesitated when she inspected her expression, she had black bags under her eyes from exhaustion and tears welling up, about ready to fall down her cheeks, her tired eyes were darting back and forth between Weiss and the forest, almost as if she was constantly expecting Adam to jump out and attack.

Weiss couldn't bring herself to berate Blake, after all that she had gone through, Weiss' anger would probably be enough to break her, push her over the edge of despair. She needed a victory, to prove that she doesn't destroy everything she touches, she needed to know that she didn't make another mistake.

Weiss sighed, "I forgive you," she said.

Blake nearly cried, but out of happiness rather than pain, "Thank you," she said in a cracking voice.

"Don't cry over that," Weiss said awkwardly, "I think you're probably the one that needs to sleep." she finished.

Blake contemplated her statement before coming to the realization that she hadn't really slept since she arrived in Atlas, "You're right, but I really should-"

Ciel groaned, "I'll take first watch, we don't want you fainting on us" she said in an understanding but still annoyed tone.

Blake smiled, "Thank you, both of you" she said. Blake stumbled over to the nearest tree and curled up on the ground beneath it like a cat and fell asleep immediately.

Weiss smiled before doing the same in her half of the camp, "I haven't fully forgiven her yet," she thought, but she knew it would be cruel to dangle it over Blake's head like a string or a flashing light. The close minded Weiss Schnee from about a year ago would have done that gladly, and while it sounded arrogant, she believed herself to be just a bit better than that.

…

Jaune, Ren, and Nora had been searching for Ruby for hours but to no avail. "Do you think she's out searching for us? Maybe she wandered off to a different part of the forest" Said Nora.

Jaune scratched his head, "Or maybe she is still here, maybe she broke her legs in the fall and is calling for help!" He said in a panicked tone.

Ren patted him on the back, "We would have heard her by now, she is probably trying to get back to us, it will be all right," he said reassuringly.

Jaune sighed causing Ren to smile slightly, "let's rest a moment" he said.

Nora plopped down onto the ground and stared at her dirt covered hands, "What was Vanilla doing here?" She said, "Why would she ever worked with Torchwick? She was always so full of warmth and love, what happened?" She balled her hands into fists and nearly punched a tree down, "What did I do wrong?" She yelled angrily.

"It's not our fault Nora, whatever drove Vanilla to become Torchwick's henchman has nothing to do with us," said Ren.

Nora looked at him with annoyance, Ren had always been able to tell what was on her mind, in fact he was so good at it she often wondered if he had a secret second semblance that gave him mind reading powers, "But it is!" she said bitterly, "She left the orphanage because of us, that has to be the reason she ended up like that, and now-" Nora began to cry, "-Now thanks to me she and Ruby could be dead!" She put her head in her hands and began to sob.

Ren opened his mouth but then closed it, he knew deep down that they had to be partially to blame, "What other explanation is there?" He thought.

"Just who is this Neo, I mean, Vanilla girl?" Jaune asked tentatively.

Ren squirmed uncomfortably at the question, "Well, she was one of the girls at our orphanage all the way back in Vacuo. She was about 3 years older than us, she was always like a big sister to us."

"Emotionally speaking, physically she was really short," Nora chimed in, her head now out of her hands and the tears from her sudden outburst already dried.

"Right," Ren confirmed, "She was exceptional at hand to hand combat, a few huntsman that passed through town once called her a prodigy. She always had dreams of becoming a Huntress and defending the innocent, a lot like Ruby actually."

Nora butted in, "Of course us living in some run down orphanage in the boonies of Vacuo didn't leave much opportunity for training, we had no money to pay for combat school but she won a contest one day that got her a scholarship to Umbra, the top combat school on the continent. She was so happy, she said she would constantly write to us but…" Nora closed her eyes and shook her head.

Ren picked up the conversation, "We went almost a year without word back from her and the one letter she sent to us said-"

Nora interrupted, "I failed you all, I'm sorry," she said emotionlessly.

Jaune looked confusedly back and forth between his two teammates, "That's all you heard? You never learned anything else?"

Nora shrugged, "No, after that we trained like hell to get accepted into the Huntsmen's 'Reach out' program. When we got to Umbra and asked about her they said she dropped out after the first semester." Nora sighed, "I just don't get it, why would she throw that all away after she worked so hard? What happened to her?" Nora nearly began crying again.

Jaune inspected his friends closely, he had never seen this side of them, Nora was a completely different person than who she was at Beacon, and for the first time ever he saw Ren uneasy. He was bouncing his leg and his eyes were constantly darting around looking for a distraction from their awkward situation.

Jaune felt a pit growing in his stomach, he felt guilty. His friends had to fight like hell to get to combat school and Beacon and he had managed to cheat his way into it by just forging a transcript. Jaune swallowed, sometimes looking back on that decision made Jaune sick, like in that moment of selfishness he permanently altered dozens of people's lives for the worse. Maybe if he hadn't done it then his team would have gotten a competent leader, maybe Pyrrha would have trusted them to fight beside her and she wouldn't have died.

Jaune shrugged these thoughts off, "No," he thought, "I can't start drowning in self pity again, remember what Ruby told you, 'You can't be a failure'" he stood up with confidence, "We've rested enough, we should continue our search," he said.

His teammates complied without question and stood up, "Let's go," they said.

All three of them nodded in unison and made their way back into the depths of the forest.

…

"I'm going to die here," Neo thought after the fall. Everything had gone dark and she was waiting for something to happen, "Are the gates of hell going to open up and drag me down to see Torchwick again? Or am I going to just float here in Limbo for an eternity?" She thought miserably. She couldn't see or feel any part of her body, if she could, she would have curled up into a fetal position and started crying by now. Just like she always did, it didn't matter whether it was at the orphanage, the school, or that horrible facility, her default emotions were alway crying and blind anger.

Neo felt an icy chill down her back, "The facility" the mere thought of that twisted place was enough to bring the painful memories flooding back. She tried to stop it; they just pooled into her mind and pulled her back into the pain and suffering they caused.

It all started when she first joined Umbra academy in Vacuo. The place was nice with a lot of great people, but that didn't stop the upperclassmen from bullying her for being short and quiet. The only person whoever acted like a friend to her was her professor.

Suddenly she felt her memories overpower her, a splitting pain wretched through her whole being, as the flood of memories surged forth from the depths of her mind.

…

When the pain stopped she could see her body again which gave herself some small comfort, but that was quickly replaced with dread when she realized what was around her. The scenery of the memory she was reliving was damaged and warped by the years of her attempting to forget it, but even with all its holes she still knew exactly where she was.

"Umbra," she whispered to herself so quietly that she couldn't even hear it. The hallway she was standing in was so distorted it was unrecognizable, but she knew where she was based on the one place her mind held totally intact, the door to her favorite teacher's classroom. Neo walked tentatively up to the plaque on the door and stroked her fingers across it's cool marble surface, the smooth texture only broken up by the numbers etched into it, "Room 342," Neo whispered.

A distorted sound rang through the void of her memory causing her to jump back, it was the dismissal bell, the door to the class opened and people poured outwards, "Well at least they are supposed to be people," Neo thought. The shapes that shuffled out of the room looked vaguely humanoid, with shifting shadows in place of a physical form they meandered about in small groups making monotonous and muffled noises that sounded almost like people talking. Neo paid them little mind, they were just holes in her memory, placeholders for faces and people she couldn't hope to remember, but she didn't care about that, all that mattered to her was the petite girl trailing in the back of the crowd who was just exiting the room.

"Me," Neo thought she was going to cry, seeing her old innocent self clear as day in all her depressed glory.

"You look like you're about to cry miss Vanilla, what is wrong?" Said a voice

Neo's stomach did a backflip, "That voice," she thought.

Neo's younger self, Vanilla, looked up to see her professor standing above her. She wiped her eyes to avoid crying, "Oh, nothing Professor C, the stress of city life is just catching up to me is all," she said.

Neo, felt her heart break at the sound of her own voice. So meek and submissive, she wondered if she still sounded like that.

Her professor looked at Vanilla with a quizzical look. Or at least she thought it was quizzical, his face was blurry and his voice was distorted. Neo wonder if that was due to age like the rest of her memory or if it was her mind's desperate attempts to block out the worst of her memories. Remembering the face of that lying monster would be too much to handle.

"Are you sure?" The professor said.

Vanilla hesitated before admitting her true problem to him, "Everyone here keeps bullying me because of my height, and because I'm a peasant. They also laughed at my weapon." She took out her Umbrella and showed it to him.

Neo sighed when she saw it, all pristine and new as if it was made yesterday, those were simpler times.

The professor spoke in a warm and understanding tone that made Neo sick to her stomach, "Oh is that all?" He took Vanilla's Umbrella and held it in his hands, "This is some of the finest craftsmanship I have seen in a long time, those kids just don't understand that there is more to a weapon than slapping a big gun on an even bigger sword. It's about style and finesse, and your weapon has them both!" He said with a large grin.

Vanilla smiled, "Thank you" she said as he handed her her weapon.

The professor smiled again, "If you need anymore support just ask me, you are quickly becoming my favorite student."

Vanilla smiled, "I will, thank you so much." she said.

Neo wished she could reach across space and time to grab her younger self, to scream at her, "Don't trust him! He is a monster, please don't!" But like all the times she played this scene back in her head she couldn't do it, like always she remained silent to the world.

…

The scene melted away and was replaced by a warped and hazy memory of the Umbra cafeteria, "Great, two memories in one dream, it must be my birthday," Neo thought miserably. The only solid part of the memory was of Vanilla sitting alone at a table in the far corner of the room, eating her lunch in depressing silence.

"Of course" Neo sighed. If there was one consistent in her life since leaving the orphanage it was that she was always alone, no one bothered to befriend her, except for Roman of course. Neo had to force the thought of her dead friend from her mind, "No, I can't think about that" she protested.

Not having anything else to do, but stare into the void on the fringes of her memory, Neo sat down next to her younger self and stared at her, analyzing every inch of this long lost person. Vanilla had her pink and brown hair neatly and painstakingly combed so it would not fall in front of her eyes. She was hunched over her PB and J sandwich and was trying to stuff it into her mouth without getting it all over her dress. "That dress," Neo thought. She was wearing a frilly dress with cranberry colored strips that were so gaudy it almost made her cringe, but she knew she had worn it because all the kids in the orphanage had chipped in to buy it for her before she went away. Neo smiled slightly at the thought, the orphanage was so old and run-down that it was barely standing, but her years there were still her happiest memories, "I think that says something really crappy about my life" she thought.

A group of girls walked by the table and glanced at Vanilla with dirty smirks. They had much more defined shapes than the formless blobs that populated the rest of the memory, with the one in the center looking nearly as real as Vanilla herself. "Topaz," Neo whispered to herself. The strongest and most popular girl in her class and one of the top ranking kids in the school was now hovering over Vanilla, her dirty blond hair twisted together in a fancy braid like a princess from a fairy tale. Vanila was still eating her lunch in bliss, completely oblivious to the girl standing right behind her till Topaz suddenly slammed Vanilla's head into the table.

"What was that for?" Vanila yelled, the remnants of her lunch splattered all over her head and dress. She quickly stood up and tried to pull the pieces of food out of her hair while the girls laughed hysterically.

"Don't take it out! It's a big improvement over that rag you call a dress!" said Topaz snarkily, her friends and the people sitting at the surrounding tables roared with laughter and the others in the room either ignored the incident or cracked smiles.

Vanilla's face went bright red and Topaz used it as a chance to continue her insults, "I know everyday is casual friday in vacuo but at least try to not look like a peasant," Vanilla stumbled over her words in an attempt to make a comeback but her hesitation only made an opening for more mocking laughter. She finally decided to accept her defeat and ran full sprint out of the lunch room while the scalding laughter of her classmates chased her.

…

The scene changed once more, this time she was outside, she was in a makeshift arena in the middle of Vacuo cities' slums. The alleyway was dark and cold and the only light to be seen was from a few dangling streetlights that were flicking from age. There were nearly a dozen people shaped blobs lining a narrow chalk drawn arena in the center of the alleyway, they were all cheering on a fight while guzzling down beer cans.

Neo sighed, of all her memories of her short time in combat school these were her worst. Every week or so the stronger kids held unofficial battles at night to test their strength without the watchful eyes of the teachers. They always brought a weaker student here, promising popularity and respect but in reality it was just for them to beat them up to feed their ever growing egos. "And I was one of their favorite visitors" Neo thought, with regret. Vanilla had always come here every time there were battles, desperate to gain respect from where peers, to find a place to belong even if it was with scum like them.

Suddenly a scream rang out and a girl's body went flying into a wall, it was Vanilla. Vanilla staggered to her feet and used her umbrella to support herself. Neo glanced over to meet the eyes of her opponent. It was Topaz, her sadistic grin etched proudly into every corner of her face, a long, dust imbued whip in her right hand and her left hand beckoning Vanilla forward.

"Is that all you have to offer, I expected more from someone who won a big scholarship to go here but I guess that was all charity wasn't it?"

She lashed her whip out creating a small explosion that Vanilla narrowly dodged. She then quickly removed the rapier from her umbrella and lunged at her opponent.

Topaz stepped aside with lightning speed and kick Vanilla into the ground. Vanilla recoiled from the blow but quickly jumped to her feet with cat like reflexes and slashed at Topaz.

Topaz tried to dodge but Vanilla's body began to shimmer, "I remember this," Neo thought, "The moment I discovered my Semblance."

Topaz frantically lashed her whip at Vanilla but her body shattered like glass and vanished before reappearing next to her. On instinct Vanilla attacked again with full force and managed to land a big hit on Topaz, sending her flying off into a wall.

The group of spectators gasped in surprise, they clearly didn't expect their little punching bag to be able to fight back.

"You little rat!" Topaz yelled, her amber eyes crackling with annoyance and anger. Topaz lashed her whip hitting Vanilla, who was still in a daze from what had just happened, in the back.

Vanila collapsed to the ground once again with a pained groan, her aura breaking on impact with the stone cold floor.

Topaz laughed, her braided hair now tangled and drooping in front of her face, "Have to say I'm surprised you got a hit in, even if it was a cheap shot," Topaz grinned, her whip glistened in the pale moonlight, "And do you know what we honorable huntsmen in training do to dirty cheaters who pull cheap shots?"

Several of the spectators grabbed Vanilla and pulled her to her knees.

"No! Please, I'm sorry!" Vanilla screamed.

Neo winced, she knew what was to come.

Topaz grin widened, "You filthy peasants need to be put in your place!" she yelled as she brought her whip down on Vanilla. She let out a blood curdling scream that that shook the very foundation of the memory. Again Topaz cracked her whip, the dust imbued barbs slashing through Vanilla's shirt and left deep gouges.

Neo flinched as she felt her old scars acting up again, she looked away, unable to face the painful memories any longer, "Why are you showing this to me?" She yelled out into the dark abyss at the edge of her memory. "I thought my life was suppose to flash before my eyes when I die, not trudge me slowly through it!" Neo felt her throat go raw, in her 20 years of life she only yelled a few times, her voice clearly wasn't up to it.

Vanilla's pained groans snapped Neo out of her enraged trance, she looked over to see her past self lying on the ground with her attackers laughing at her. Vanilla let out a whimper between her tears and begged them with a weak and cracking voice, "Please stop..." she said before coughing up blood.

Topaz rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll stop," she said.

Vanila looked up at Topaz with a pitiable smile, "Thank you," she said between sobs.

Topaz smiled, "But-" she raised her whip and what little color in Vanilla's face drained away. "-Let's give you one more for the road!"

Just as she was about to crack her whip a wizzing sound barrelled down the alley and a small projectile hit Topaz in the neck.

"Wha..what?" Topaz said with confusion as she looked down to see the dart sticking out of her neck. "Who...dares..." she trailed off as her unconscious body collapsed to the ground. Before the audience could react several other darts flew from the darkness and hit everyone in attendance, including Vanilla.

Neo tried to look away but couldn't, "NO! I won't let you! I refuse to see that place again! I'd rather burn in hell for eternity then see that horrible lab again!" She began sobbing.

The dream began to fall apart at its seems as Vanilla began to lose consciousness. The figure of a man cloaked in a veil of shadow and distorted red light drifted towards Vanilla from the darkness, the entire memory falling apart with every step he took.

The man kneeled down next to Vanilla, her eyes fighting to stay open. The man smiled showing a set of white teeth that stood out in contrast to the rest of his ambiguous figure, it was clear why, Neo's mind was desperately trying to keep her from remembering the face of her assailant. All that she could allow herself to remember was that shimmering white grin. The man reached out his hand to cover Vanilla's face and the last thing Neo heard before everything went silent was him saying, "Just close your eyes, the doctor is expecting you."

...

Neo jolted awake only to be wracked by a painful sore on her back.

"You're awake," said a quiet voice. Neo looked around wildly until her eyes settled on Ruby Rose, who was sitting on a rock and tending to a fire that had a shapeless slab of meat hanging over it. Ruby locked gaze with her, her glistening silver eyes the same color as the cruel whip that Topaz held, but something felt different about them. They seemed to radiate a gentle and authoritative warmth, something Neo could only describe as motherly. Even though she had come to enact revenge on her Neo felt calmed by her, she felt deep down that Ruby was no threat to her.

"You have been out for a few hours so I took the liberty of getting us something to eat" she finally said. She then removed the slab of meat from its spit over the fire and gave a piece to Neo.

Neo hesitated for a moment causing Ruby to smile, "Don't worry I'm not going to bite, also it's just burnt, not poisoned."

Neo finally let her hunger do the talking and took the meat from her, "Sorry that we have to eat it with our hands, Ren has all the utensils," Ruby said.

Neo didn't care, she was starving and had to resist the urge to cram her meal into her mouth and swallow it whole. The two sat in silence as they ate their poorly cooked diner. Neo swallowed, "You really suck at cooking," she said in a meek voice to break the awkward silence.

Ruby chuckled, "You don't really need to practice when you have a master chief in your group," She turned to face Neo, locking eyes with her once again, "Speaking of, Ren and Nora said you were their friend once. Is that true?"

Neo looked down at her hands, they were still shaking from her trip down memory lane, "Yeah once, we came from the same orphanage-" Neo stopped, "I thought I would never see them again."

Ruby stared into the campfire, seemingly lost in thought before responding, "So what are you going to do now?"

Neo was taken aback by her question, before today Neo never considered the idea of reconnecting with her past, the thought always seemed too painful. Ruby spoke again, "Your plan on killing me has gone down the drain, and something tells me you aren't going to try again now that you know those two are involved, so what now?"

Neo looked at Ruby in confusion, "I assumed you would kill me, after all I helped Roman and Cinder. I'm responsible for this mess!"

Ruby returned her gaze to the fire, "I don't like to kill, it doesn't matter who it is, someone is going to mourn them and I'd have to bear that guilt." She sighed, "There is no way I'm getting out of this mission without killing, but I'd prefer not to get your blood on my hands," She sighed again and laid back on the ground and closed her eyes, "I won't stand to see Nora cry again."

Neo considered her words, she was out of options, she could either run to the nearest city and resume her life as a petty thief or… Neo gulped, "Return to the past," she muttered under her breath. She looked at Ruby, who was peacefully resting, "And what do you think of me?" She asked.

Ruby opened her mouth to speak again, "I doubt I'd ever forgive you for what you did, I'm not that nice a person, but-" she sat up, "-Well you were mumbling in your sleep and…"

Neo blushed, "What did I say in my sleep?" she thought, "Did it have to do with my nightmare?" Neo felt panic rise inside her, no one except for Roman had ever learned anything about those memories. The thought that Ruby, even if it was from incoherent mumblings, had got an idea of her past embarrassed Neo to her core.

"You were thrashing in your sleep, I had to hold you down during the worst of it. Whatever bagade you're caring that can make that happen must be pretty heavy," She stared at Neo, her eyes burning with a gentle intensity, "It reminds me that you're just like us." she said.

Neo considered her options very carefully before she finally reached an answer, "I want to come with you," she said, barely believing the words herself.

Ruby nodded, "Ok," she said as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a flare gun, "I wanted to get your answer before the others found us," she said. Ruby held the gun up to the starry night sky and shot off a flare that exploded into a bright red rose petal firework. "Come on," Ruby said as she held out her hand for Neo to grab, "I bet you want to make up for lost time." she smiled a warm smile that glowed in the fading light of the flare's remnants.

After only a moment of brief hesitation, Neo reached out to grab Ruby's hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. Ruby's smile widened, "Let's go," She said as she turned to leave into the dark forest.

"Yeah" Neo said with an anxious and half-hearted laugh, "Let's go."


	5. WOR: Academies and Headmasters

**So I am a little late on the update today like last week, I wasn't able to finish chapter 5 in time but luckily I had a contingency plan for this. There will be roughly two world of remnants a volume and they will be released whenever I can't finish a chapter in time so you guys don't have to wait to long for an update. Chapter 5 will be up next week so enjoy!**

 **...**

 **Academies and Headmasters**

After the Great War had ended and the tyrannical government of Mantle was defunct, the first huntsman academies began to spring to life all across Remnant's war torn landscape. Young, passionate people began pouring into these schools, driven by their desire to protect their families and to take their place amongst the legendary heroes of old that stemmed the tide of Grimm that nearly wiped humanity off the planet some 3,000 years prior.

However, since communication remained a difficulty in this time the academies were all isolated, each having their own views on how the huntsman would operate. Some believed that they should be elite operatives for the kingdom of their desire, some believed that the huntsman should dedicate their existence to finding ways to exterminate the Grimm once and for all (these few were often laughed at for this goal had long been considered a fool's errand), however there was a large and very vocal group of huntsmen that believed the Great War was a sign that the common man was to selfish and ignorant to lead themselves to anything but total annihilation.

This group, know as the "Eternalists" worked to convince the masses that only people who forfeited their innocence and become huntsman had the right to lead the world. This propaganda campaign was greatly effective, the "Cities of the Northern Alliance", the weak government that attempted to take the places of the fallen Mantle regime, was In full support of the idea that the huntsman should lead the governments of the world.

The only three remaining nations with any real power, Vacuo, Mystrial, and the greenhorn kingdom of Vale, opposed the idea. The current chairman of the Vale council was even quoted saying, "These Eternalists are nothing but a self righteous cult who are using the good people of Remnant's fears as a thinly veiled ploy to conquer the world right under their noses! We, the council of Vale, will not allow such a blatant attack on freedom to penetrate our borders!"

Regardless of protest, the Eternalist quickly gained ground in former Mantle territory and nearly gained full control of the continent. They attempted a takeover of the Vacuan capital city that failed do to an alliance of the other factions of huntsman, known as the "Brotherhood of the Just" who had placed the City, and effectively the whole kingdom, under martial law.

Tensions amongst the huntsman grew over the next few year to the point where all people had accepted the fact that all out war was once again inevitable, this time by the hands of those who claimed to protect them. However a miracle happened, Scientists from Atlas, the new capital of the Mantle region, had engineered the greatest advancement in history since the advent of dust, CCT technology. Thanks to the new CCT towers, communication between kingdoms and individuals became as easy as talking to someone right in front of you. This allowed for easier discussions between world powers, and promoted a small understanding between the different factions.

The Eternalists and the Brotherhood agreed to once again meet on the island of Vytal to discuss the state of the huntsmen. The official records of what exactly transpired during the week long meeting are kept under lock and key by government officials, but what is known to the public is that the Eternalists conceded their extreme ideals in favor of a compromise, Huntsman, after graduating, were allowed to do as they wish, whether it be pledging their allegiance to a kingdom or researching Grimm, each huntsman was allowed complete autonomy. Four official academies were to be formed, Atlas, Beacon, Haven, and Shade. One in each respective kingdom, and each run by a revered and experienced huntsman as its headmaster.

The people to fill the roles of the first four headmasters was a question that was quickly answered, it would be the four powerful female warriors who were integral to the battle of Vytal and the peace talks not only between the fallen Mantle and the rest of the world, and between the huntsman factions.

These four women lead the huntsman, and the world into an era of prosperity and peace.

But the ideals of the Eternalists still survive, Atlas academy, the birthplace of Eternalism, eventually merged completely with the fledgling government and effectively became its own government, bringing it no shortage of criticism.

Even so, Huntsman politics have remained stable in recent years. The current headmaster of Atlas, General Ironwood is often called the most powerful man on Remnant for his control of both the academy and the Atlesian military. However his combat skills, while above that of a normal huntsman, are below that of the other three headmasters.

Edna Crimson, or more commonly known by one of her nicknames such as Madame de Fuego or deadly beauty, is the headmaster of shade and the only female headmaster. She is also well known for being the highest ranking Faunus huntsman in the world, as well as one of the world's wealthiest Fanus.

Jacob Cemalt, the headmaster of Haven academy, is an odd man to say the least. For one he is incredibly old fashioned in his way off speaking, as well as owning a wardrobe of almost exclusively black and white suits. His weapon of choice is even stranger than him, it is an old bastard sword from the days of the Great War with no alternate forms and no imbedded dust to take advantage of. Yet even with this seemingly ineffective weapon he is know to be one of the strongest huntsman alive, having beaten James Ironwood in hand to hand combat with ease.

The most mysterious of the headmasters is by far the famous Professor Ozpin. He was infamous in his youth for being unbeatable in any form of combat, there is even an urban legend that he single handedly beat his entire class in a fight, surpassed his teachers, and even battled his headmaster to a standstill during his training. Even though he has not had an official fight in over 20 years and none of his fights have been documented, no huntsman in their right mind has ever attempted to face him in battle. He always keeps to himself and only shares his thoughts with his closest advisors. He is said to know more than any man in the world.

These four men and women have stood as examples for all to strive towards just like their predecessors. They have been the symbol of what the huntsman of the world were always meant to be….and what they will become.


	6. Chapter 5: False Heroes

**So finally finished this one and I really am looking forward to how you guys like it. I am trying something new where I will write in parentheses, the name of a piece of music I think would be awesome there. So if you want to listen to it just look it up on YouTube. If you think this is distracting please tell me and I will stop doing it. Now Enjoy!**

Cinder looked out over the skyline of the Vacuan capital, at face value it was the most beautiful city she had ever seen. Giant skyscraper's with bright lights dancing across the roofs, countless gardens and parks scattered amongst the streets, and an entire district covered in the most artful graffiti she had laid eyes on.

But all was not quite right, the normally bustling city was now silent, the shops and pubs that lined the downtown streets were abandoned and still. An invasive and oppressive atmosphere fermented in every barren corner of the city, warping its otherwise postcard image into a foreboding and ominous wasteland.

The sight made Cinder crack a smile, Vacuo had always prided itself on being different, on standing out from the crowd that was the kingdoms and forging its own unique path. But this city's differences appeared to be skin deep, they had reacted to Salem's plans just as predictably as the rest of humanity, by locking their doors and hoping reality would just leave them alone.

"Is that all there is?" said a voice. Cinder looked to her side at her partner, a woman dressed in black and wearing a Grimm mask, "They cower and hide after defeat? Where is the determination? Where is the resistance?" She said, pained disappointment dripping from every word.

Cinder's smile widened, "Pathetic isn't it? I don't know what you see in them, you humans are so confusing" she said.

Her partner sighed, "It truly is a sad day when humanity pins its hopes on the likes of them," she said with disgust as she turned to look at the one building with any seeable activity happening.

"Shade academy" Cinder thought. From the rooftops the two could see the entire compound, there were countless men and women armed to the teeth pouring into the main building, all carrying the same poorly concealed face of worry.

"Look at them all, they are like rats scurrying away from a tsunami, it's kinda funny" Cinder said with a chuckle.

A calm and chilling voice Emanated from the shadows behind them, "My, my, milady was telling the truth, you do have a twisted sense of humor."

Cinder twirled around to face the two figures standing in the shadows, one was a man and the other a woman, "Hold your tongue human! You have no idea the power I hold!" Said Cinder, her eyes sparked with rage and glowed hellish red.

A chuckle came from the woman, "Glowing eyes, now that is scary! I can make my eyes glow too if you'd like." She said that last part as if it were a threat.

The man waved his hand at her dismissively, "Now, now, we mustn't make our new ally feel uncomfortable, this is truly a momentous night for us all!" He paused and returned his attention to Cinder and spoke in a polite yet slightly condescending tone, "Madame Cinder, we are well aware of what your witchcraft is capable of." He smiled, "We are also aware of its shortcomings, or was I misinformed of your spectacular blunder at beacon where you were nearly blasted into oblivion by a huntress in training AND managed to get your draconic familiar frozen to the top of a tower like a hood ornament?"

Cinder had to swallow her anger, she knew what the man said was true, she had let an ignorant child get into her blind-spot and had earned her the disappointment of her master. "Never again" she thought.

"If you are done with teasing your superior we must be getting ready" said Cinder's partner in a commanding voice.

She removed, her mask to reveal her black, curly, bangs and stark red eyes, "Everyone get changed into your formal wear, it's time for the party" she said with a smile.

The other two smiled back and bowed, the man spoke, "As you wish, milady" he said.

Cinder looked at her partner with a curious expression then responded, "Very well Raven, let's begin the next phase" she said, her smile having returned.

…

"For the love of god, stop drinking!" Said Ironwood in an annoyed voice.

Qrow rolled his eyes, "Pssshshh, You just want a taste don't you? Here have some" he said jokingly as he shoved his flask in James' face.

James pushed it away, "Act your age Qrow, this is serious" he said annoyedly.

Qrow sighed, "Of course it's serious" he said as he took one last swig of his alcohol before putting it away, "Just look at all these shirt n' ties" he said.

James looked around the ballroom, There were over a hundred highly trained Huntsman and Huntresses crowding the room, wearing pristine and formal attire and making small talk with one another. (And giving him the stink eye) A beautiful and elegant orchestra played off to the side of the room and chefs were constantly pouring out of the kitchen to replenish the appetizers that were quickly being devoured by the hoard of nervous huntsman.

"What do you mean? It's an important meeting, what is so weird about formal attire?" He said while inspecting Qrow's shabby sports jacket.

Qrow laughed drunkenly, "Listen Jimmy, I know you're not a people person so listen to old prof. Qrow." Qrow's eyes darted to every angle of the ballroom, "Vacuo is famous for how everyday is casual friday, heck some of the transfer students to vale came shirtless!" He turned to James with a cold stare, "And when people like that put on fancy clothes then you know things are serious." He took his flask out and attempted to drink from it before realizing that it was empty, "Could be worse, if pigs start flying than we are really screwed" he said jokingly.

James sighed and rubbed his forehead. The past few months had been nothing but a slippery slope of White Fang and grimm attacks, and with each passing day, the weight of the blame sinks deeper into Atlas, and by extension his, shoulders.

"James Mah Boi! Its great to see you haven't bit the bullet!" Said a familiar voice.

Before Ironwood could react he was caught in a backbreaking bear hug by his old friend Professor Port, "Gah, Peter, It's good to see you." He said between gasps for breath.

"Oh sorry, I don't want to snap you in half!" Peter said with a chuckle as he let go of Ironwood. James nearly collapsed to the floor as he began panting for breath, a sight that left Qrow very amused.

"Peter! I swear you haven't changed a bit since we were in training!" A very unamused Glynda marched towards him with Dr. Oobleck and Taiyang in tow.

"Sorry miss Goodwitch, I am simply happy to be surrounded by so many accomplished huntsmen!" he said.

Glynda gave him a dirty look that made him cringe, "You're an accomplished huntsman to, so act like it." Peter gulped and stretched his collar out. James sympathized with him, somehow whenever Glynda got angry with you, you suddenly felt like you're a greenhorn student sitting in her class.

Dr. Oobleck cleared his throat and turned to James and Qrow, "Well now that we have gotten our less than formal hellos out of the way, we can get down to business." Glynda and Peter immediately stopped their squabbling and looked, stern faced, at the rest of the group. Oobleck's eyes darted around the ballroom to see if anyone was listening, they weren't, aside from a few dirty looks directed at James, everyone was too engrossed in their own conversations to pay them mind. He continued, "Qrow, have you found out anything regarding Ozpin's whereabouts?"

Qrow shrugged, "None, as far as we know he really did just poof into thin air." He sighed.

Taiyang stepped forward, "In your investigation...did you happen to get a lead on where Ruby went?"

Qrow avoided eye contact, "No" he said bluntly.

The group fell silent, they were hoping this big meeting was going to help them make a solution to this mess, and this bad news was a crappy start to the evening.

"Have you heard from Raven at least?" said Taiyang.

Everyone in the group seemed to flinch at her name. Raven, Taiyang's ex-wife and Qrow's sister was a very volatile topic in Ozpin's group. Over the years her extreme ideology, one that made Ironwood's idea take over of the Atlesian army look like child's play, on how to protect the world had caused tension. Especially when she decided to divorce Tai and fake her death to the world so she could fully commit to being one of ozpin's elite agents.

Tai felt sick at the thought, the two of them had shared such amazing memories together, even had a newborn child, but no, the job came first for her. Infact her "dedication" to her missions kept her out of contact for months and sometimes a whole year. The only reason the rest of them suffered her pretentious delusions of grandeur was because she was easily one of the most freakishly strong huntsmen on the planet.

"I don't like this, she hasn't reported back since that catastrophe. What is she up to?" Said Glynda worriedly.

Oobleck tentatively spoke up again, "What exactly was she doing before all this?" He asked.

Qrow, Glynda, James, and Tai all avoided making eye contact with him or Peter. The two of them had been completely oblivious to Ozpin's agenda and the existence of the Maidens till recently, Oobleck nearly fainted when he learned about them.

Qrow cleared his throat, "She was searching for Salem's agents all around the world. She has killed a lot of them over the years." Qrow stared off into space with an annoyed look, "I just don't understand how someone so talented could let an agent of Salem pull a stunt like this, and when I last saw her she refused to help us even when I told her I couldn't handle this alone."

Glynda put her hand on his shoulder, "This isn't your fault Qrow, that agent out maneuvered us all. Now all we can do is try and put this all back together."

Qrow smiled and was about to make a witty remark when he noticed James tensing up, "What's wrong Jimmy?" He asked.

James' eyes were fixated on the door to the ballroom that had just opened, "The others are here" he said darkly. From the door entered Edna Crimson, the beautiful headmaster of Shade, and Jacob Cemalt, the imposing headmaster of Haven.

Edna wore a slim, dark, red dress that ended just below her knees, and had bright red gloves that quickly caught an onlooker's eye. She held her own personal wine glass, encrusted with valuable jewels, and filled with the finest aged wine available. As if the eccentric glass and clothes were not enough, she wore a stunning necklace laced with the most flawless pearls, diamonds, opals, and emeralds, as well as Topaz earrings and a crystalline hair piece that matted her silky red hair in a jaw dropping braid. Her expensive and flamboyant fur scarf draped around her upper body and rubbed against her Ominous black and grey staff that was fixed to a sheath on her back. The only thing more more intimidating than her weapon was her eyes. The fanus' imposing green eyes with a dark, sideways pupil, had a stare that penetrated your soul and left anyone who meet her gaze, feeling like they were in a trance.

Jacob wore a slick black tuxedo, his black hair tucked neatly under his bowler hat. His face was a mixture of boredom and politeness with hazel brown eyes that analyzed every move something in its gaze made. He stood straight as an arrow and had his white gloved hands behind his back, with his elbow brushing up against the hilt of his sword. James flinched when he saw the sword, it was unremarkable in appearance, an old steel longsword from the days of the Great War in a plain, rugged, leather sheath. It had no special abilities to speak of and was something a person would expect to find in a museum, not at the side of one of the most skilled huntsmen in the world. But James knew all too well just how dangerous this man was even with such a relic as a weapon.

The attention of many of the countless Huntsmen in the ballroom had suddenly become focused on the two new arrivals. Edna and Jacob ignored the curious eyes of their brothers in arms and walked directly towards James and the others.

"It's good to see you general" said Jacob in a somewhat distant tone.

"Yes good to see you too Jacob" said James emotionlessly.

Qrow and the others looked back and forth between the two anxiously. Two of the biggest name huntsmen in the industry were standing only a few feet away from each other and by the looks in their eyes it seemed only a matter of time before one throttled the other.

"Isn't this place marvelous?" Said Edna in her normal provocative voice.

James and Jacob broke their staring contest to respond to Edna's statement, "Why yes it is lady Edna, a thousand thank yous to you for allowing us to host this event at Shade" said James.

Edna giggled, "Oh James, still as dashing as ever, but don't worry about it, we couldn't possibly have it anywhere else! After all, Vale is in no shape as it is now, and have you seen Haven's ballroom? We'd be better off in a dumpster then there!" She said with a wicked laugh.

Jacob smiled, "Yes, yes, I am a terrible host but it would at least be better than your place James," he stared at him coldly, "Less chance of your army swooping in and making things worse" he said bitterly.

James felt his heart begin to race, he knew that the other headmasters would try to blame him for the tragedy at Vale, the government of Mystral was all but ready to declare war on Atlas, and the Atlesian council was one step away from discharging him. It was obvious that Jacob would blame him too. "Jacob, you know I would never attack Vale. My goal has always been the same as your's to protect the innocent" he said.

Edna, "Rolled her eyes, James, James my dear, I believe you! But I'm sorry to say that the world doesn't, they are afraid of someone so reckless and powerful" she said.

Jacob finished her statement, "And OUR goal is to make sure people have nothing to fear," he took a step forward and glared deep into James' eyes, "And if you are what they fear then I regret to inform you that your days as headmaster and general may be number" he said.

Before James could retort Glynda and Qrow stepped forward, "Is that a threat?" Said Qrow.

Glynda stared coldly at the two headmasters, "Neither of you have the authority to remove him from power, you need a majority vote from all four headmasters for him to be removed."

Jacob sighed, "True, true, but" he and Edna exchanged a quick look and smiled, "That brings up the matter of Ozpin, are you all still looking for his corpse?"

His statement struck a nerve with all six of them, "He is alive!" Tai said at a near yell.

"Ozpin has always amazed us with his skill, I refuse to believe him to be dead" said Oobleck angrily.

Jacob and Edna looked surprised by the unflinching loyalty that Ozpin's friends held for him, they found it amusing.

Edna sighed, "Well It doesn't matter whether or not he has a pulse, what matters is he isn't here to guide us. We need a new and capable leader" she said.

Jacob smiled, "And that certainly cannot be you, as you were probably hoping Jimmy." James twitched, he hated being called by that nickname. "Well it doesn't matter right now, we have another hour left to enjoy the party before the meeting starts." He and Edna exchanged an understanding glance, "There we will have plenty of time to discuss your retirement." The two turned and walked off to the talk to the rest of the guests, leaving James and the others with a foreboding feeling that the night was about to take a turn for the worst.

…

Awhile later, once nearly a thousand huntsmen had gather in or around the ballroom, the meeting began. James, Edna, and Jacob all stood on the front stage, looking out upon the wide sea of onlooking Huntsmen and Huntresses. Qrow, Tai, Glynda, Peter, and Oobleck all stood in the front row, all of them on high alert for anything to go wrong. There were rumblings in the crowd, many people were upset over the group of Atlesian soldiers that stood in attendance behind James. "I knew these troops would only make matters worse. Which member of the council was the one to have the genius idea of making me take bodyguards armed to the teeth to this meeting?"

Reluctantly, James stepped forward to the mic at the front of the stage and began to give a speech, "Fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses, I am honored that so many of you came here to beautiful Shade academy to discuss how we should proceed in our current predicament.

"Predicament!?" yelled a voice from the crowd, "Vale is in shambles, Ozpin could be dead, and the whole world is on edge! This isn't a predicament, this is a disaster!"

The crowd became agitated quickly and soon other people began to speak up, "Yeah, you seem oddly calm, or was it some other power hungry jackass that's army went berserk?"

"Oh great, only two minutes in and we've almost got a riot on our hands" muttered Tai grimmly.

"Ol' Tinman was never one for eloquent speech" responded Qrow.

"Please, everyone, we need to stay calm! I will be the first to admit that the tragedy at the Vytal festival was my fault, but we can't turn on each other now! The people of this world are looking to us to fix this mess, and I will do everything I can to set things right!" Said James with as much passion as he could muster.

"With all do respect James, after all you have done there really is only one thing you can do to make this right" said Jacob smugly.

James looked at him with aggravation, "Jacob, that is not the best option, I need to fix this."

"Please James, stop with the bravado and stand down" said Edna.

"Yeah!" yelled a large amount of Huntsmen in the crowd. One of the huntsmen in the front row, Strop Vorasary, a well respected professor from Shade stepped forward from the crowd and stood in front of the stage.

"General, or Headmaster, or whatever your ego goes by these days, this can't possibly be a surprise to you can it? Taking control of both an army and an academy was a bold move." said Strop.

"Can it Vora, you've always been a nuisance during these types of meetings" said Qrow.

Strop looked at Qrow unamusedly, "Ah, if it isn't Qrow, one of ozpin's little lapdogs. How does it feel to have your master disappear, knowing that your old friend might be the reason he is gone."

Ironwood could barely contain his rage, "Are you accusing me of doing this on purpose everything I have ever done has been to ensure the safety of this world!"

Edna scoffed, "And what a fine job you have done James."

A female huntress in the crowd from Atlas spoke up in Ironwood's defense, "Please, we know he screwed up but what he says is true, Ironwood would never do something like that on purpose."

A male huntsman from Mystral that was next to her yelled in her face, "Tell that to my friends who were slaughtered in Vale that this was all an accident! The dead demand justice!"

Jacob shrugged and stepped forward to take the mic from James, "I would like to speak to these good people James, or do you want to make them angrier still?"

James reluctantly gave Jacob the Mic. Jacob smiled and cleared his throat "I am dreadfully sorry for this sour start to this gathering, but no matter, it is best we address the elephant in the room first." He glanced at James quickly before returning his attention to the crowd, "And to make sure we get this frivolous debate over with, we have a special guest who love nothing more than to put our minds to rest."

(The Elder One theme from Dragon Age Inquisition begins to play)

All heads turned towards the big doors to the room as they opened up, a Woman with jet black hair and blood red eyes stood in the threshold, she wore a shallow cut black dress and had a sheathed Katana latched to her side. She stepped forward into the light so all in attendance could see her clearly.

Tai gasped, "Qrow that's-"

Qrow bit his lip, "I know, Raven"

Raven smiled when she made eye contact with her brother and former spouse, her eyes seemed different from how they remembered, they were empty, as if life had drained away what little love remained in her, leaving her as a hollow shell. She stepped up onto the stage where Jacob and Edna greeted her with handshakes. James stared her down with absolute astoundment, this was the last thing they ever thought would happen.

Raven took the Mic from Jacob and faced the crowd who had gone dead silent, "Hello Ladies and Gentleman" she said with a commanding yet strangely comforting voice, "What happened at the Vytal festival was the greatest tragedy to befall both humans and Fanus since the great war. And there is not a single day that has gone by that I have not wept for the innocent lives that were senselessly taken from us." She paused and closed her eyes and opened them with a glowing fervor, "But what saddens me more is what I see before me, the bravest men and women the world knows cowering in a ballroom while the children of this world cry themselves to sleep, either out of fear of what is to come, or from the sorrow of a dead loved one."

Her voice nearly doubled in power and volume, "But steel your hearts my fellow huntsmen, channel all the emotions you're feeling right now directly into your willpower! Do not be consumed by sorrow and fear! We must take back our pride as heros and save this broken world!"

The crowd erupted into cheers, everyone except Qrow and the others joined in with joy, after the cheers died down Raven began again, "We must reclaim our lost glory as the guardians of this world! We must join together and stem the tide of darkness before it overtakes us, we must find those responsible for this tragedy and bring them down! Bring down the White Fang!"

"Bring down the White Fang!" cheered a large portion of the crowd.

"But first we must deal with the first enemy on our path," Raven pointed at James, "General Ironwood of the Atlesian army! You are to blame for allowing this travesty to happen!

The audience gasped before they began arguing back and forth again, "Down with Ironwood!" Yelled someone from the crowd.

"No, I refuse to betray my former teacher!" Yelled another.

Qrow cautiously grabbed the hilt of his weapon and stared Raven dead in the eye, things were going south fast.

"What is the meaning of this!" Yelled James in a mix of confusion and rage.

"Simple James, you're being evicted from your post as headmaster" said Jacob.

"You can't do that!" Said James, "You need the word of three of the four headmasters to remove me, Ozpin's not here!"

"How convenient for you!" yelled Strop.

"I thought I told you to can it!" yelled Qrow.

The crowd was now in a frenzy of argument so the speakers had to scream at the top of their lungs, "That is true Ironwood but since we are in a time of crisis and are down a headmaster we are enacting the 'Quick replacement' Protocol." said Jacob.

Edna picked up where Jacob left off, "It allows us to instate a new headmaster immediately after one goes M.I.A. So we are instating Raven as the new headmaster of Beacon!"

A gasp of surprise rung through the crowd. James became flustered, "What!?"

"Raven smiled, "And look at that, now we have three headmasters who want you gone. So that's it you're fired!"

The crowd erupted into a cacophony of arguing, "No, he is innocent!" yelled a voice.

"Finally justice!" yelled another.

One of the Atlesian bodyguards put his hand on James' shoulder, "Sir, I believe we should go, this could turn violent at any second."

Raven spoke up, "Yes James, run away to your little army of toy soldiers." She turned to face the crowd of Huntsmen, "Great things are coming, and when the storm has passed you will get what you deserve!"

Raven's supporters cheered out in joy while james' supporters screamed in protest.

Strop heaved himself onto the stage and shook Raven's hand, "Everyone, three cheers for Raven, our new leader!"

The supporters of Raven in the crowd began chanting, "RAVEN!"

Qrow jumped on stage, "Strop, don't feed her ego! It will only make things worse!"

The crowd reached their second chant of, "RAVEN!"

Raven scoffed, "Oh Qrow, you were always a sore loser."

Strop laughed, "That you are Qrow! That you-"

(Music stops)

All of a sudden a fiery projectile, of glass and dust, shot through the air at blinding speed and impaled Strop through the chest.

The whole room screamed in horror before going silent, Strop, in complete shock over what had happened, wheezed out his last word, "-are" then collapsed to the ground, his wine glass shattering as it connected with the ground.

The second the glass shattered all hell broke loose, "Who did that!?" several scared huntsmen yelled." "Who shot that!?"

"Sir we need to go!" said one of Ironwood's guards.

"This just got infinitely worse," thought Qrow, he looked around, his allies had looks of utter confusion on their faces except for Tai, who was staring Raven directly in her eyes, spite overflowing from both parties. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw her, a woman crouched over a banister above the ballroom, she was shrouded in darkness, leaving only her bright orange eyes in view, eyes imbued with magic, the new fall maiden.

She quickly shot several more projectiles into the crowd and struck down several of Raven's supporters. The group erupted into chaos. Raven unsheathed her weapon and bellowed, "It's one of Ironwood's allies! He must be trying to silence us! One of the maiden's attacks shot out and hit the stage.

And suddenly all peace was shattered, the Huntsmen and huntresses who had come to Shade to discuss teamwork had now broken out into civil war. Everyone was drawing their weapons, several people were already dead, explosions and hails of bullets rained down and tore apart the ballroom in seconds.

The maiden was nowhere to be seen, and then Qrow felt a metal blade up against his neck, it was Raven's Katana.

"It's over Qrow, you and Ozpin have lost"

It was then that Qrow understood everything, Raven was truly a traitor, that wasn't an assassination attempt, it was only to cause a war, and they had played right into her hands.


	7. Chapter 6: Divide and conquer, part 1

**Sorry about the late upload again, I really wanted to make sure this was a good one! Please leave a review, I really would like some feedback.**

The entirety of Shade academy was in ruins, Huntsmen, workers, and even some students that got caught in the crossfires, lay dead on the marble floors of the once prestigious building. "And to think it was all fine and peaceful less than 20 minutes ago" thought Taiyang.

Everything had gone wrong, Raven's speech riled the huntsmen into a frenzy and now it was all crashing down.

"Where is she!?" Yelled Qrow. "The sooner we kill that traitor, the faster we can get this nightmare over with!" While Tai shared Qrow's anger he was just glad that he had escaped from Raven's clutches, after all having a Katana up to your neck is not an easy thing to get away from. But of course Qrow's pride wouldn't be satisfied with simply getting out of this alive.

"Hold on Qrow, we don't want to run directly into the fray!" Yelled Oobleck.

Qrow looked over his shoulders, his eyes burning red with rage, "Yes we do, she is probably standing directly in the middle of the fight, knowing her I wouldn't be surprised if we find her bathing in the blood of her enemies." He said with bitter sarcasm.

Tai looked around worriedly at their battered group, Glynda and James were warning faces of stone, and their clothes were in tatters. Oobleck and Port, being the weakest of the five of them, were nearly out of breath and were barely able to keeps up, and Qrow…Tai looked towards Qrow with concern, he had never seen such pure anger in his friend's eyes before, Raven's betrayal seemed to have hit him even harder than even Summer's death. A cry rang out from a hallway nearby, "AHHHH" the person screamed.

"That way!" yelled Qrow before his friends could respond he activated his semblance, "Metamorphosis" and transformed into a crow, in his new form he darted around the twists and turns of Shade's ruined labyrinthine halls till he found the source of the cry. He was already too late, the victim, one of Ironwood's supporters, lay dead at the feet of Edna, Jacob, and Raven.

"You're going to pay for this!" Yelled Qrow, his voice shaking with rage. Qrow divebombed Raven who quickly unsheathed her Katana to retaliate, Qrow flew under her strike and quickly switched back to his human form and slashed out with his sword. Raven took a direct his to the stomach and was sent flying into a wall. Jacob and Edna drew their weapons, ready for battle but before attacking they lowered them again, smug smiles on their faces. Qrow looked to where they were looking, Raven had already risen to her feet, there was no sign that his attack had hit whatsoever.

Raven looked at him with a slightly annoyed expression, "That wasn't very kind of you" she said bluntly.

Qrow stared daggers at her before speaking, "Why Raven? Ozpin's missing and the world is falling apart, we needed your help now more than ever, and this-" Qrow pointed at the corpse of the young huntress, "-This is what you do? What can you possibly gain from this? Money? Power?"

Raven rolled her eyes, "Dear brother, you know I'm not that petty, I'm simply doing my job" she said.

Qrow had to restrain himself from lashing out again, right now he needed information from her, "And how exactly did you come to the conclusion that exterminating the huntsmen was part of your job!?"

Jacob spoke up, "Now, now Qrow, exterminate is such a barbaric word, what we are doing is simply...purging the disloyal"

Edna continued, "Listen up you dusty old bird, we knew that no matter what speech Raven gave them, there would still be a faction of huntsmen that would side with you and Ironwood. And since we are trying to do our job and protect the world, we couldn't afford to have two factions vying for power."

Raven shot her a petrifying glare to shut her up, Raven clearly wanted to be the one to rub her victory in Qrow's face, "So this was our best solution, instead of letting the huntsmen fester and weaken do to inner strife, we decided it would be best to make James look like a tyrant and killer and let the rest of the huntsmen purge your supporters from themselves." Raven put on a satisfied smile, "Once the battle ends and you're little group is eradicated we will simply pick up who is left and start a new order of huntsmen. One that will not hesitate to do what needs to be done-" Raven assumed a battle stance and was ready to lunge at Qrow, "-Regardless of how many people have to die!"

She leaped forward and slashed at Qrow who blocked her attack with his sword causing shockwaves that shook the whole building, Qrow shook his head, "You disgust me" he said. He flipped the switch on his weapon and transformed it into a Scythe and move in for an attack, Raven dodged and slashed her katana into a downwards arc. Qrow shot the gun mounted on his weapon to launch himself backwards to avoid the attack.

Suddenly Edna leapt into the air and attempted to bring her staff down on Qrow's head, "Come here little birdy, it's time I taught you where you stand on the food chain!" She yelled psychotically as she brought her staff down, once again Qrow used the recoil of his gun to launch himself backwards, narrowly missing as her staff connected with the floor causing a mini earthquake.

Jacob joined in the fray and lunged at Qrow with his sword. The hit connected and sent Qrow flying backwards into the ground which cracked on impact.

Qrow rose to his feet, completely disoriented, his three opponents all leapt to dog pile him, and they would have beaten him if his back up didn't arrive so timely. "Get back Qrow!" Yelled James. Suddenly Qrow felt Tai yank him backwards just in time to avoid being skewered by Raven's Katana. In retaliation Glynda launched several projectiles made out of shards of the marble floor directly at Raven and her lackeys which forced them backwards.

"You ok?" Asked Port.

Qrow shook his head and came back to his senses, "Yeah" he said.

James looked back at him with an annoyed expression, "This is what happens when you run off my friend, I thought I was suppose to be the reckless meathead" he said sarcastically.

Qrow laughed, "Trust me, no one in the world could ever be more of a meat head than you."

"Enough of your childish banter!" Yelled Raven who seemed to be incredibly annoyed by her opponent's sudden neglect of her, "It doesn't matter how many of you there are, you will all die the same!" She boomed with rage.

Oobleck scoffed, "Please, it's five against three, we won't lose! Your senseless rebellion is at an end!"

Raven smiled, "True, five against three isn't a very fair fight, so let's see if Four against two is any better." Raven looked back and forth between Jacob and Edna, "You two mop up the leftovers" she said.

Suddenly Raven transformed into a jet black raven and sped towards Qrow and picked him up by the shoulders. "Qrow!" Yelled Tai as he tried to pull Qrow down but he was out of reach. Qrow tried to struggle but Raven was to strong, she already carried him out the nearest window and up to the top of the building where she dropped him hard on the stone roof.

Qrow rose to his feet to see Raven transform back into a human and sit cross legged on the ledge overlooking the compound that was ablaze with dust explosions and filled with the shouts of rage filled huntsmen.

She looked at him disappointedly, "Really Qrow? You couldn't have broken free from me? What would Summer say? Would she be ashamed of how weak you have become?" She asked mockingly.

Qrow raised his Scythe and rushed towards her, only to stop dead in his tracks to avoid being hit by an arrow that came whizzing by. Qrow turned to face the arrow's origin and came face to face with the Fall maiden herself, she was young woman wearing a tight Crimson dress and high heels. She had a bow made of Obsidian and dust, as well as several canisters of glass projectiles strapped to her waist. Her lava red eyes burned with the ferocity of an angry God, and her skin was a beautiful pure white, only flawed by a long thin scar running down the left side of her face from her eye to her chin.

Qrow smiled, "I guess my niece really did do a number on you. Honestly, a Maiden being caught off guard by a rookie silver warrior, I thought you'd be smarter than that." The Maiden's eyes lit up with pure spite as she shot a dozen arrows at him with blinding speed. Qrow narrowly dodged them and slashed out at her abdomen, she dodge just as Qrow did and lunged at his neck with the blade on the end of her bow but Qrow managed to block the strike just in time.

Raven chuckled, "I believe you two haven't properly met yet, Qrow this is Cinder, my partner and ambassador to Salem."

Qrow refused to look Raven in the eyes, he was to focused on Cinder, who he was currently binding blades with and trying to keep from being overpowered, "You really are crazy! You know that Salem will destroy the world if her plan succeeds!"

Raven scoffed, "Of course she will, and you know very well that no matter what we do, she will succeed! Are world is doomed to be destroyed by her, but that doesn't mean humanity has to meet the same fate!"

Cinder won their power struggle and knocked Qrow onto his back. Raven stomped over to Qrow and forcefully pulled him up to his feet and yanked him close to her so their faces were only inches apart, "Salem will turn this world into a sea of ashes, me and my compatriots are making sure humanity has an ark to weather the storm upon!"

She tossed Qrow back on the ground with disgust only for him to spring back to his feet, ready for round two, "So that's it huh? You gave up and joined the 'Winning team'? Honestly I thought your ego was bigger than that." He said with bitter sarcasm.

Raven sighed, "I hoped you would understand Qrow, I really did, but I guess I have to save humanity myself" she drew her sword and Cider drew her bow.

Qrow drew his Scythe once again and lunged at his first foe, Cinder. She wasn't able to block him, having obviously expecting Qrow to attack Raven first, and she was sent flying backwards which allowed Qrow to swerve around and strike out at Raven who swiftly blocked him.

Cinder wasted no time launching back into battle, her eyes lit up with the power of the fall maiden and she launched herself directly at Qrow, who transformed into a bird once more and flew to the side just In time to avoid a direct hit but got his feathers singed.

Qrow let out a cry of pain as he smashed into the roof and reverted back to his human form. Cinder laughed, "Pathetic, typical for a human."

Qrow stumbled back to his feet, wincing in pain from the burn on his arm, "This is bad" he thought, "My aura's healing is slowing down, I can't keep this up, I'll have to use them both."

Qrow assumed the best battle stance he could and reached into his pocket slowly, as to not draw attention to what he was grabbing. "I believe it's time we cut this meeting short" said Cinder with a smug tone, "So bye-bye" she said as she blasted herself forward with a column fire trailing behind her. Qrow quickly slipped the Silver ring that he had concealed in his jacket on and punched Cinder as she wa closing in on him.

The ring lit up with a blinding silver light and dispersed Cinder's magic and sent her flying backwards, "What!?" She screamed as she impacted onto the ground. She jumped back to her feet and attempted to blast him with her magic only to realize that she couldn't. "What did you do to me?" she said as she fell to her knees, all her energy having been drained from her.

Qrow scoffed as he removed the ring from his hand, "It's a silver ring enchanted by the wizard himself, designed to temporarily subdue a maiden's power." He looked at Cinder smugly, "You used one on Amber right? How else would you and your two crownies beat her?"

Cinder's eyes lit up in fury, "You stupid, insolent human! How dare you disgrace me like this!"

Raven motioned her to be quiet, "Well I'll be damned, I never thought Ozpin would entrust you with something so rare and powerful, he really does trust you doesn't he?" She said with an infuriated tone.

Qrow laughed, "Jealous?" He said as he held out the ring, "Too bad these things have crappy mileage, one use and poof." As if on cue the ring fell apart in his hand and blew away in the wind. "And what's even worse it only lasts a few minutes, but that's all I need to kick your asses" Qrow closed his eyes.

Raven smiled, "Oh so you're going to go all out? Well I guess I better do so to." Raven closed her eyes as well.

(Akuma Deliora from fairy tail begins playing)

Suddenly Cinder felt the temperature around them drop sharply and the atmosphere gained considerable weight. "They wouldn't!" Cinder thought. "Two of these monsters going full power? Just one is enough to level an army! Two of them could destroy the whole city!" She thought.

A wind storm started blowing out of nowhere and Qrow's cape began flapping in the air. Suddenly Qrow opened his eyes which were now jet black with dark red pupils. Raven did the same, her eyes equally as unnerving.

The already low temperature of the roof dropped once again to the point where Cinder could see her own breath, the wind had rose to an ominous, ear shattering, howl, but nothing was more foreboding than their voices, "It's been awhile since you got this power, I wonder if you're any better at using it" Said Qrow, his normally scratchy and sarcastic voice replaced with a deep booming one.

Raven smiled, "Of course I have brother, the real question is, has this curse has worn on you?" She said in the same demonic sounding tone.

As embarrassed as she was to admit it, Cinder was impressed, even though she grew up knowing the truth behind all the long forgotten fairy tales of heroes and demons, it always amazed her to see them spring into reality right in front of her. "So this is the power on par with the maidens" she thought with awe. "The fabled power of the fallen."

Qrow and Raven crouched into battle positions and were ready to launch towards each other, "It truly lives up to the legends, 'The curse of the Grimm Reapers'" She sounded the name out as she looked on in anticipation.

Finally, Qrow and Raven drew their weapons and sprinted towards each other, the Scythe and Katana clashed together and let out an enormous shockwave of power that blasted the entire building to pieces and sent Cinder flying off the side of the building, unconscious.

(Music stops)

…

"Dammit, I must have read that map wrong, I should have reached the village over an hour ago!" Said Yang, distraught racking her voice. She had been walking all day and was ready to drop dead from exhaustion. Yang looked around at the seemingly endless forest that surrounded her in vain, "Take the path less traveled Yang, travel on the off shoot dirt road and not the paved one, you really are an honor student aren't ya?" In a fit of frustration she punched a nearby tree with her only arm and sent it toppling down.

After getting her anger out she slumped down to the ground with an exhausted sigh, she felt like she could topple over and go to sleep for a month at any second, the dozen Beowolves and that Ursa she fought a while back had really did a number on her physically. "I knew fighting one handed was going to be a challenge but this is ridiculous!" she groaned.

Yang decided to spend this time to catch her breath and reevaluate her situation, she had gotten off the boat roughly three days earlier and had managed to get herself stranded from any sight of civilization, and on top of that she had already gone through all her food. As if on cue her stomach growled like a savage Ursa, "God dammit! This is pathetic, after all this I'm going to just starve to death because I can't follow a damn map?!"

She closed her eyes and held her head in her hand, "Just calm down Yang, for once just calm down and think this through." Yang laid back on the ground and steadied her breathing. She used this moment to reflect on what had gotten her to this point, all the mistakes she had made and the tears she shared with her friends. She let her mind wander to the tournament, their first battle against team ABRN was the first that appeared in her thoughts. She smiled when she remembered their half-assed planning session right before the fight, she had jokingly told them to just use her as a projectile, something which they ended up doing much to her surprise. But to be honest in retrospective the whole thing was kind of a mess, no real team work till the end, always splitting up, "I think I lost track of Ruby for half the fight" Yang thought.

The next memory on her mind's internal playlist was their fight against FNKI. Yang felt a smile involuntarily grow on her face, while that fight was beyond annoying at the time with Neon and Flint screwing with their heads but nothing made her happier then to put them in their place and blast the two of them sky high, "And party with them that night" Yang chuckled.

Yang's joy faded when the next memory surfaced, her fight with Mercury. One of the closest fights in her life, she was so happy when she won but then, she gritted her teeth, something happened, something she couldn't explain, something that made her lose faith in herself and her restraint. She attacked him, she broke his legs. Ruby told her later that she saw him walking around just fine the same day, and that he had to have played a part in Cinder's plan. Yang felt her anger rise, Yang knew that the second she saw him again she would break his legs and make sure they STAYED broken forever.

Now the last stop on her little detour down memory lane surfaced, him. She was so sure of herself, she was going to be the hero and save Blake from her past, she was going to kill that White Fang nut job and save the day. But when he drew his sword, when he broke her aura and severed her arm, the feeling of helplessness that washed over her in the seconds before she passed out, it was something that would haunt her forever. But worst of all was Blake's expression, the look of horror that she had as she saw her stupid, arrogant, partner be mutilated right before her eyes. "I should have been stronger!" Yang yelled, "I should have been stronger!" She yelled even louder as she jolted upwards and her eyes shot open.

She shivered from a cold breeze and realized that the sun had gone down and plunged the woods into a pitch black darkness, Yang felt her anger bubble up again, "Dammit, Dammit, Dammit! I must have fell asleep! Dammit, I'm so useless!" For a few moments Yang lost control of her emotions and proceeded to punch down a dozen innocent trees in a fit of rage.

After she was finished with her temper tantrum she started to cry and sob, "Who was I kidding when I went on this journey? My life as a huntsmen was over before it started and I'm just playing fantasy now!" She plopped herself on the ground again and pulled her legs up tight against her chest as she gave into her emotions again and let her years keep rolling.

She continued this for a while, letting all the tears and sobs that she held back for the past few months burst out into the atmosphere and moisten the dirt.

But her emotional release was ut short by an ominous growl coming from the shadows. Yang stopped abruptly and jumped to her feet, "You idiot! You know that negative emotions attract Grimm! That's huntsmen 10!" Yang armed her gauntlet and got ready to fight back against her attacker. For a few moments everything was dead silent until a creeper launched out from the bushes nearby and charged at Yang. She reacted on instinct and rolled away from its path and struck out with her gauntlet and let a bullet fly. The Creeper squealed and went soaring into a boulder and cracked it. The thing wasn't quite dead yet and charged once more at her.

Yang smiled, "Predictable" she thought. She launched her self part way into the air with her gauntlet's recoil till she was directly above the monster, "Perfect, now to let gravity do the rest and come in for the kill with an old fashioned right ho-" Yang went to extended her right arm before realizing once again that her arm was missing. A look of horror broke out over Yang's face, "Shit!" She thought with dismay, She had done that skydive maneuver so many times before she did it on instinct without even thinking about her still recent debilitation. But before she could slap herself for her stupidity, she began tumbling down towards her enemy, completely defenseless. She steadied herself in midair and tried to use her left arm as her new plan of attack but did not correct herself in time, she landed on top of the Grimm and her aura broke. Luckily the impact was enough to kill the Creeper before it could retaliate.

"Ughh, that was embarrassing" She said to herself in a groan. As she rose to her feet she heard a howl coming from the hill line behind her, "Crap more of them!" She yelled.

Yang knew she wouldn't be able to win in her condition so she broke into a dead sprint in a desperate attempt to get away. "Calm down yang, you're not dying here. Just think positive, you're negative emotions are like a giant beacon to them." Somehow this thought only seemed to make Yang panic even more.

She heard movement coming from behind a tree next to her and she jumped back to narrowly miss the bite of a savage Beowolf. Yang quickly brought her fist down on the beast's neck and shot off a round, killing it instantly. Suddenly two more wolves jumped out of nowhere and attacked, Yang barely managed to dodge one but was caught by the other's swipe. "Gaah" Yang yelled as the Grimm's claw slashed through part of the skin on her stomach. Yang toppled to the ground with a painful thud. "Yep, That's going to leave a scar" thought Yang dismally.

She staggered to her feet only to be attacked again, "Not this time, bastard!" She yelled as she shot the nearest Grimm with a round of bullets and then elbowed it into submission. It's partner hesitated for a moment before charging at her. "You want see hell too? Well come get your passport!" She yelled as she reached out her hand to shot the beast, only to be met with silence. In that moment everything seemed to slow down for Yang as she came to a horrifying revelation, "I'm out of ammo" she muttered in disbelief. The beowolf continued its attack and jumped into the air above Yang. For the first time in a long while Yang felt like the pathetic stupid little girl that nearly got herself and her sister killed all those years ago , but this time Qrow wouldn't be able to save her. Yang closed her eyes and braced herself for her death, "I'm sorry Ruby, But this is where...I leave you behind."

Right as the Grimm was about to descend upon Yang she heard a gunshot ring out from somewhere nearby in the forest, and was tackled to the ground by someone, "What the?" Yang thought, her eyes springing open. The person who saved her had already leaped from the ground and engaged the Grimm in battle, Yang was still in a daze and could barely see straight, the best she could make out was that her savior was a man, roughly her height. The man dodged around the Beowof's swings with ease and kicked in in the knee, causing it to topple to the ground. He then brought his foot down on it's neck, delivering the final blow.

He then put his hands on his knees and started panting as he tried to catch his breath, "Whoever you are, you owe me, do you have any idea how lucky you are that I was walking through here and heard your-" He turned around to looked at Yang and froze up before sighing, "-For the love of! I can't catch a break can I?" He shouted towards the sky.

"What is the problem?", Yang mumbled as she slowly rose to her feet, her vision finally began to come into focus as she looked her savior in the face. Her smile faded, "Mercury!?" She yelled in shock.

The silver haired teenager looked around frantically for an escape route, "Shit, Shit, this is what i get for being a good samaritan" he mumbled quickly under his breath.

Yang attempted to get into a battle stance to fight but nearly fell over while doing so. Yang spoke between uneven breaths with anger, "What...are you..doing here? You...sick...lying...disgrace of a...huntsman…" Yang felt the last of her energy leave her as she collapsed to the ground. The last thing that Yang's shaky vision showed her before she passed out was a sight of Mercury's face, upon it she could see dark black bags under his eyes, skin pale white, and a look that screamed, "What the hell am I going to do now!?"

…

The west Atlesian seaport was not a very pretty sight, most of the buildings were covered in grime and rust, many of which had been abandoned by their former owners and were now repurposed by the homeless. "There is normally a lot more Fanus out and about in this part of Atlas, but it seems none of them want to be seen after what happened at Beacon" said Ciel.

Blake sighed, "Yeah, I expected as much" she said.

Weiss looked at the homeless people around her, many avoided eye contact with the exception of the curious stares of several children. She noticed a family of three huddled together away from the rest of the group. Many of the other families gave them quick dirty looks every once and awhile. When the three of them walked by the isolated family Weiss understood why, they were Fanus. They were trying their best to hide their animal trait, scaly arms, as best they could but to no avail.

Weiss looked away, she only had enough money to get her to Haven, and as much as it hurt her she couldn't do anything to help.

"We're heading into the port center now, be sure to hold your wallets tight, there are more pickpockets here then there are people in the Atlesian army." Said Blake with dry sarcasm.

As they turned the corner Weiss and Ciel's nostrils were assaulted by the smell of low tide and fish guts. Blake inhaled deeply and for the first time in awhile she put on a big smile, "Let's go find our boat!" She said enthusiastically, the ears under her bow twitching with joy.

Ciel and Weiss looked at each other and giggled like school girls for a moment, "What's so funny you too?" Said Blake curiously.

"Nothing, nothing, let's just get out of here" Said Ciel, her face still covered with a wide smile.

The center of the harbor was bustling, well as bustling as it could be given the trying times. There were dockworkers yelling and swearing at each other as they loaded cargo onto freighters and many different stalls with all kinds of merchandise lined up to buy.

However the normal jovial nature of a bazaar like this was missing. There was no laughing, ideal conversation, or children begging their parents to buy them candy. It was all eerily quiet. No one was making eye contact with anyone and everyone was in a hurry, not to make it in time for a sale like you would normally see, but as if they wanted to get out of the open and back to their homes as quickly as possible.

Sadly Weiss understood exactly how they felt. News must have reached them by now that the Schnee dust company had been captured by the white Fang, and with how fast relations between Mistral and Atlas had been deteriorating war seemed just on the horizon. Being a port town on the side facing the Mystraly continent meant that if war were to break out they would be among the first towns captured in the struggle.

"Remember, keep your heads down, if anyone recognizes you two there could be a scene." said Blake commandingly.

Weiss and Ciel knew this all too well, they had been so sure to hide their identities that they had to ditch their fancy custom clothes and replace them with much more common ones. Weiss' new garments entailed a dark brown sweater and worn jeans, combined with unremarkable grey sneakers. She also wore a bright white scarf that held her signature hair close to her face as to not allow people to recognize it.

Ciel wore a simple outfit, she had an army green jacket with dark brown hiking boots and a pair of jeans that matched Weiss'. The only remarkable thing she wore was her signature blue beret, when we had told her that it was two inconspicuous she glared daggers at them till they let her keep it, "Must hold a lot of sentimental value for her to keep it so close" Weiss thought.

"We should almost be at our dock soon, everyone still have their money?" asked Blake.

Ciel reached into her pocket and removed her wallet, "Got mine, what about you Weiss?"

Weiss looked to her side and was about to reach into her pocket but stopped when she saw a green blur jump from the rooftops into a widow, 'What was that?" Weiss asked with concern.

"What was what?" Asked Blake and Ciel as they looked around.

Suddenly weiss heard a strange sound and her vision went blurry for a second before refocusing. What she saw next shocked her, "Ruby?" she said aloud. Weiss saw what looked like her leader walk into an alley way out of the corner of her eye.

"What? Where?" Said Blake.

Weiss didn't know if what she saw was really Ruby but she felt it had to be, no, Weiss NEEDED it to be her. Without a second thought Weiss ran after her at top speed while calling her name.

"Weiss get back here!" yelled Blake as she took off after her, Ciel quickly followed.

Weiss ran through the alley only to see Ruby turn the corner to another back alley, "It is her!" she thought with excitement. "Ruby stop! It's me!" she yelled out as she continued to tail her.

For almost ten minutes she continued her chase through the labyrinth of alleys leading to the heart of the port till she was completely cut off from her friends. "Where did she go" Said Ciel in a panic.

"I...I don't know!" said blake, too panicked to think straight. Blake heard a strange sound that blurred her vision for a few seconds and completely forgot about it immediately after it passed, "Where do we look now? How about..there.." Blake froze up at what she saw. Her partner Yang stood at the other end of a nearby alley, as beautiful as she had ever been, the stump of her arm tied up in a gleaming white bandage that seemed almost like a fashion accessory. She smiled a mischievous smile then ran away down one of the million branching alleyways.

"What? What did you see?" asked Ciel.

Blake ignored her and dashed off to give chase to Yang.

"No come back! Blake!" Yelled Ciel. "Uggghh! I have had it!" Ciel threw her hands into the air, "This is what i have to put up with! Do I have to do EVERYTHING myself?!" she groaned in anger and turned around to storm off but was quickly smacked upside the head by the flat of a weapon and was knocked out instantly.

…

"Where is she? Oh god I need to find her!" thought Blake desperately. She couldn't lose her partner again, she had to do what she was to scared to do before, look her in the eye and apologize. "There you are!" Blake yelled as she saw Yang.

Yang turned around and giggled before running off once again. "No wait!" Blake bolted after her once again. Through winding alleys and slums she pursued her, till they reached a large gap over a canal. Yang jumped across and Blake quickly followed. Just as Yang landed on the other side Blake was right above her, "Got ya!" she yelled as she was about to tackle Yang, but the second she made contact with her she evaporated into thin air. "Wha..What?" Blake said in disbelief.

Before she could fully process what had happened the temperature in the alleyway dropped considerably and she began to shiver, "What is going on?" she thought.

As soon as she thought that she heard a voice echo from far to the left as if it were coming from a mic, "SHKIBIDI-DO-DA! You're Mine, Kitty-cat!" said the voice.

Blake came to the realization that she had been lured into a trap but it was already too late to react. A wave of ice dust descended upon her, enveloping her in a bright blue shine and encasing her in solid ice.

…

Weiss was a mere few feet from Ruby, she was almost there, "Ruby, why won't you stop?"

As if on cue Ruby turned on a dime a stood at attention. Weiss' momentum was already too fast to be stopped quickly enough and she came toppling down on Ruby, but to Weiss' surprise she phased right through her.

Weiss hit the ground with a thud but quickly sprang to her feet to find her leader, only to discover that she had vanished. "Man you rich people are so easily duped." said a familiar voice.

Weiss twirled around to find Emerald sitting on top of a dumpster lazily.

"Emerald? What is going on?" Weiss asked in utter confusion.

Emerald sighed, "Oh that's right you never figured it out. Well to put it short my semblance caused you to hallucinate and lure you here , me, Cinder, and Mercury were the ones responsible for the disaster at Beacon, and I was sent here to capture you so if you could just-"

Emerald whipped out her weapon and began shooting at Weiss who narrowly rolled out of the way.

Emerald continued, "Oh and also, just to prove that you are out of your league here" Emerald grabbed something from the other side of the dumpster and tossed it to the side, it was ciel's unconscious body.

Weiss felt her anger take control of her as she lunged at Emerald with full force, but before she could make contact a blast of ice dust hit her and encased half her body in a block of ice.

"Slow down their blazing baby, you need to take a chill pill!" said a voice from behind Weiss.

Emerald rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Oh god, him again" she said.

The person who had froze Weiss walked into view, he was a man who looked to be about her father's age and had had blue hair, clothes, and eyes. He had one hand in his coat pocket and the other clutching what looked like a grey mic stand in the other, "Come on baby girl, give your knight in shining armor a little kiss" he said.

A shiver seemed to go down Emerald's spine, "No way in hell creep, the second Cinder says I can, I am getting as far away from you as possible."

The man seemed to physically recoil from her insult, "OH you would me spicy girl, you wound me. And to think I spent all this time getting you a pet." he snapped his fingers and a small cloud of ice dust floated over and dropped a large block of ice in between him and Emerald.

Weiss gasped in horror, "Blake!" She screamed. She nearly cried when she saw her friend who was completely encased in that sicko's dust.

"Do you like it? I know this girl does" The man winked at Wiess.

Emerald scowled, disgust dripping from every inch of her face, "Azure, let's just grab them and go, this job is making me sicker by them minute."

Azure, sighed, "Well I guess I won't be meltin' any hearts today, no siee."

He turned to Weiss and smiled. Now don't think about struggling now, or using any fancy tricks to melt my ice, I got a lot more dust where that came from."

Weiss struggled and struggled but the ice surrounding her just kept growing and growing till she was up to her neck.

Azure kneeled down and looked her straight in the eyes and smiled, "Oh this job is going to be so much fun! But for today it's time to call it-" he placed a single finger on Weiss' forehead, causing her muscles to stop, "-Curtains" he said, and immediately the ice fully closed over Weiss' face.


	8. Chapter 7: Divide and Conquer, part 2

"That will be 40 Lien miss" said the cashier.

Neo smiled, "Ok, here you go"

The cashier smiled, "You be careful now, this world has been dangerous as of late"

Neo nodded, "I'll take your advice, thank you." She grabbed the supplies that she was sent to buy and gracefully navigated her way out of the store. Once she was outside her smile faded and she sighed, "I doubt he would be so nice to me if he knew this mess was because of me" she thought.

Neo inhaled the sweet country air to clear her head before she began to walk through town. It was a quaint little hamlet, only about 300 people lived there, many of them Fanus, and even with how the world seemed to be going to shit they seemed relatively positive about the future. It was pretty and closed off from most of the world, not many Grimm around and the only connection they had to the outside world the Mystrail capital, and even that was a 3 days journey away. Neo felt that if she were to just stop and stay in this village for the rest of her life she could escape her mistakes. Her past and the screwed up world would never bother her again, she could be happy here. But Neo knew that wasn't an option, she had some she couldn't let down.

"Did you get the groceries?" Said a voice.

Neo turned to see her former enemies and now allies, Ren and Jaune. She responded, "Yeah, you guys get the directions?"

Jaune nodded, "Yep, we should be arriving in the Capital within the week."

"That's good" said Neo. The three of them stood there in an awkward silence for a few seconds. Even though they had been traveling together for several days now, Jaune still didn't know what to make of the newest addition to their rag-tag group. Jaune had never met her when she was running with Torwick but he knew that she played a part in Cinder's plans, which meant that she was partially responsible for Phyraa's death. Jaune stared at Neo, who was looking around to avoid eye contact. She was every bit as short as Ruby had described, but he knew he couldn't underestimate her, according to what happened to Yang when she fought her, she was incredibly strong.

It was Ren who broke the silence, "Well, we shouldn't keep Nora and Ruby waiting" said Ren emotionlessly.

Neo and Jaune nodded in unison, "Yeah" they said.

As they began walking, Neo fell in next to Ren, "So, um, Ren, we haven't really gotten a chance to really talk yet" she said meekly.

Ren looked down at her quizzically and spoke in a very cautious tone, "You remember how I was at the orphanage, I only talk when necessary" he said.

Neo looked away, "Oh right" she said. The three returned to their awkwardly silent walk for another few minutes before she picked the conversation back up, "So...how was your time in school?" Ren grit his teeth for a second and Neo panicked, "Did I ask something I shouldn't have!? Crap I'm already screwing up!" She thought.

Ren unclenched his teeth and responded, "It was fine, won't be going back next year though…" He said despondently.

Neo gulped, "Yep, definitely screwed up." She thought.

Ren sighed, "Look, I know that Nora has already welcomed you back with open arms but I'm a bit more skeptical." He stopped for a second which allowed Neo to analyze his expression.

He looked very unsure of himself, Neo could see his emotions torn in his eyes. She could tell that he was secretly ecstatic about how happy Nora was, and that their little makeshift family was back together. But he was masking it, he was always very protective of Nora, after all the last thing he said to Neo before she left for Umbra was, "Don't worry, I'll keep her outta trouble." He knew that he had to be distrusting of her to make sure Nora would be safe in case she betrayed them. "Isn't that ironic" thought Neo miserably.

Ren sighed and continued, "But if you prove that you can be the Vanila the both of us loved again then...you can have my trust again" he said begrudgingly.

Neo's face lit up like a Christmas tree, "I will make sure of that, I swear!" She said, newfound confidence surging through her.

Ren cracked the faintest of smiles, "Good, now let's hurry back, Nora is probably dying of boredom right about now" he said.

Neo held in a chuckle, "Yeah let's." she glanced over to Jaune who was still looking staring ahead and trying his best to tune out their conversation, "Now he is going to be the real challenge" she thought.

…

"Your back!" Yelled Nora the second she saw them approaching.

Neo smiled, "Good to see you, hope you weren't-WOW"

Nora pulled Neo into a bear hug and lifted her into the air, "Yay!" She said like a giddy school d girl.

Ren chuckled, "Set her down Nora before you suffocate her, you're crushing the groceries too.

"Oh sorry" said Nora as she let go of Neo.

Neo nearly fell over as she tried to catch her breath, "Don't worry about it" she said.

Ruby stepped out from her tent, lemonade in hand and smile on her face, "Well you have certainly climatized well to the group" she said.

Jaune scoffed, "Since when have you used fancy word like that?" He said.

Ruby shot him a dirty look, "Oh shut up" she said.

Neo smiled, "Big words aside, thank you for letting me come with you guys to Haven. I promise I will be invaluable" she said.

Ruby chuckled, "Heh, look who is being a chatterbox now. As long as I don't wake up with a knife in my neck I'm just fine with you" she said as she returned to her tent to pack for their departure.

Jaune turned to Ren, "We should get everything ready to go before we burn too much daylight" he said.

Ren quickly glanced between Neo and Nora one last time before responding, "Yeah, let's go." The two turned towards the camp and walked off to pack.

Nora hugged Neo once again, this time with much less crushing involved, "I'm just so happy you're back with us again" she said.

Neo hugged her back, "I'm happy too" she said.

Nora removed herself from her lifelong friend, "I'm never letting you out of my sight again, if anyone tries to take you away again I'll break their legs!" She said with great gusto.

Neo giggled, It seemed Nora's sense of humor and spirit hadn't changed at all since the orphanage, "I'll make sure to stay out of harm's way then"she said.

Nora nodded happily and grabbed Neo's hand, "Come on Vanila! Let's get packing!" She said as she started dragging Neo towards the camp.

Neo giggled softly, "Alright, I'm coming." Neo smiled wide, this was the happiest she had felt in over a year, in fact she wonder if she was ever this happy when running with Torchwick. Neo shook her head quickly, "That's not something I don't need to think about right now" she thought.

…

"Ok, we can stop for a break after another half mile" Said Jaune, his face buried deep in a map.

"Be careful Jaune, you don't want to trip" said Ruby.

"Bah" Jaune said as he waved his hand at her dismissively.

The five of them had been on the road for roughly 4 hours at this point and Neo's feet were starting to hurt, "Where is a car when you need one" she thought.

Neo noticed that Ruby's eyes were darting between her and Nora and Ren. Ren was doing the same and whenever the two locked eyes they held them for a few seconds longer than normal, as if they were quietly exchanging information.

"Is there something you two want to say to me?" Neo finally said to them.

Ruby almost jumped back when Neo spoke, "Ah, ah no! We don't have anything to say, not at all ha ha" Ruby awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

Neo sighed, "Ruby, a bit of life advice, you absolutely suck at lying" she said bluntly.

Ruby sighed then looked at Ren, he nodded as if in confirmation, Ruby nodded back a then spoke, "Well, we think it would be best if you tell us all a bit more about you."

Ren butted in, "About what happened after you left the orphanage, why did you leave Umbra? And how in the world did you end up being second in command to the most notorious criminal in Vale?"

Nora turned around and joined in on the conversation, "Yeah, what happened? When we got to Umbra the students said you were bullied constantly, and one day you just up and vanished without a trace."

Neo gulped, she wanted nothing more than to forget that time in her life ever happened. She looked out at her new group of "friends." Ren and Ruby both held identical looks of curiosity, Jaune still had his map held out in front of him but he is attention was now directed squarely at her, and Nora held a look of the utmost concern, her light green eyes bored into Neo's soul to the point where she knew that she had no choice but to tell them.

Neo sighed, "Ok I'll tell you" She said.

Nora smiled, "Thanks for agreeing" she said.

Neo continued, "Well it all started when I finally confronted the person who was bullying me" Neo stopped for a second, she already felt sick. "I fought her in an alleyway when we were-"

Ren went stiff for a split second before yelling, "GET DOWN!" He tackled Neo and Nora to the ground, the three of them just barely missing a volley of bullets. Ruby back flipped onto a boulder behind her and drew her weapon in sniper form. Jaune dropped his map and unsheathed his sword and shield.

Everything went silent for a few agonizing moments before a cloaked man jumped from the tree line at lightning speed and shot a second volley at Jaune. He blocked them with his shield but was knocked back several feet onto the ground, he groaned but quickly rolled for cover behind the boulder Ruby was standing on. The man jumped like a ninja onto the rock with Ruby and briefly engaged her in a close quarters fight. Neo saw for a split second the man's weapons, they were dual submachine guns with curved blades at the tips that curled around his fingers, one was jet black like his cloak and the other was a mixture of purple and dark red.

Ruby tried to transform her weapon into its scythe form but it was too late. The man hooked his blades around the rifle and pulled it towards him. For a second him and Ruby were locked in a tug of war over the weapon but the man used his leverage to gain the upper hand, he kicked Ruby off the side of the Boulder and she landed on top of Jaune with a loud thud.

Ren then sprung up to his feet and tossed Neo and Nora to the side, behind cover. He drew his own weapons, sub machine guns that resembled their attacker's but with a slightly more crude design, and launch several rounds of bullets at him. The assailant lept backwards off the rock to avoid being hit and ran back towards the tree line for cover, Ren laying suppressing fire on him to keep him from turning back.

Once he was out of sight Ren rolled behind the Boulder for his own cover. Ruby and Jaune had gotten off each other and were already on high alert for the next attack. Neo and Nora had pressed themselves up against the Boulder and were looking to Ren in confusion, "Who is that?"

Asked Nora

Ruby and Jaune looked at Neo. Neo shook her head, "Don't look at me" she said annoyedly.

Everyone looked towards Ren, he had a look of fear mixed with rage on his face. Ruby spoke to him tentatively, "Ren, do you know who this guy is" she said.

"I have a few good guesses" he said grimly.

"What do we do?" Asked Nora nervously"

Ren looked around at the trees around them for movement, "We need to scatter backwards into the forest. When he comes out to attack I will force him off. You guys regroup and don't stop till you reach Haven. I will try and meet up with you there."

"NO!" yelled Nora.

"Quiet!" responded Ren

"I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself Ren!' said Nora, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Yeah" said Jaune commandingly, "I'm not losing any more of my team"

Ren groaned in frustration, "Just listen to me and go!"

Neo looked back and forth between Ren and his teammates, Nora was looking pleadingly at Ren, Jaune seemed as if he was trying to command Ren with his mind. It would have been pointless anyways, Ren had a stonewall expression that dared his friends to defy him. Ruby, the normal voice of reason in the group, was at a complete loss on what to do.

Neo looked at her umbrella and clutched it, she knew what she had to do. She spoke in the most commanding voice she could muster, "When he starts shooting run."

Ren looked at her confusedly, "What?"

Neo looked him in the eye and gave him an order, "Ren, you promised me you would protect Nora, I'm going to have to have you renew that promise."

Before he could respond she leapt over the boulder and ran forward. Nora screamed, "No."

The assailant launched a volley of bullets out at Neo but she activated her semblance and her body shattered into pieces only to reform a few feet away.

Neo ran towards the tree line in an attempt to flush him out of hiding.

"We need to go" said Ren to the others.

"But we can't abandon her!" yelled Nora.

Ruby and Jaune looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what to do.

The man leapt from the trees and landed behind Neo. She spun around and attempted to stab him but he was already running off towards the boulder where her friends were hiding, "Dammit, he didn't take the bait!" she thought.

The man jumped to the top of the boulder and shot down on the team, causing the four to scatter in different directions. Jaune and Ruby leap out back into the road with Neo. Ren ran into the forest while carrying a struggling Nora. The man seemed to completely ignore the others and ran straight after Ren and Nora.

…

"Put me down!" yelled Nora.

"I can't, I need to get you someplace safe!" yelled Ren

Nora squirmed till she broke free and began running back to the fight before Ren grabbed her by the hand.

"Please Nora, Don't go, he will kill you!" pleaded Ren.

Nora responded irritably, "So will anybody we come across on this journey! We need to fight back."

Ren pulled her back, "Trust me, we can't beat this guy!"

Before Nora could speak Ren tackled her and pulled her behind a tree to avoid a hail of bullets.

"Dammit! He followed me." He looked Nora in the eye, "Never mind, get back to them and run, I will hold him off!"

Their attacker sliced down the tree with their bladed guns only to be blocked by Ren's. The two held each other's weapons in a deadlock for several seconds which allowed Nora to see the assailant clearly, He wore a tattered black cloak and had several scars all along his face and hands.

The assassin smiled, "Heh, good to see you again, how's life been?"

Ren pushed him back unloaded an entire clip of bullets at him but the man dodged it at lightning speed. The man laughed, "Your shots been getting better, but it's still not enough!" He then landed next to Ren and kicked him onto his back.

Nora leapt to Ren's defense, she grabbed Magnhild off her back and extended it into its hammer form. She put all her might into a swing that narrowly missed their attacker and smashed into a tree.

"Too slow!" The attacker yelled. He jumped forward and kicked Nora in the face and knocked her to the ground like Ren. Nora groaned in rage as she scrambled to her feet and swung again and again at the cloaked man, backing him up away from Ren but missing him every time, "Too clumsy" he said as he dodged a swing, "Too predictable" he said as he dodged another, "And far too weak" he ducked under one of her swings and launched her up into the trees.

Nora landed on a branch high atop an oak tree and barely managed to not fall off it, "Nora!" yelled Ren in a panic.

Nora looked down at Ren, "I'm ok Ren, a little shaken but not beaten!" She said reassuringly.

However Ren was not calming down, he cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled, "Get down now! You have no chance of winning against him in the trees! He will slaughter you!"

Nora looked around confusedly, The tree tops were completely still, it was almost as if the man had hightailed it outta there. Nora carefully removed her scroll from her belt while keeping an eye on her surroundings. She checked her aura gauge, "95% I can do this" she said to herself.

"Nora please retreat now while there is still time!" Ren was almost hysterical at this point.

"Why is he so scared?" She thought, "We can beat this coward no prob-" suddenly Nora heard rustling from directly above her, "What?" She said in shock. She spun around only to come face to face with her attacker, "How did he?" She thought, time seemed to come to a complete crawl as Nora realized that she didn't have enough time to counterattack. All she could do was stare into the eyes of her assailant, his face, "Ren" she said in disbelief, her attacker looked just like Ren.

All of a sudden a blinding light erupted from his twin guns and Nora was subjected to a storm of high powered bullets at point blank range. The recoil launched her off the side of the tree, everything was still going in slow motion. She saw her scroll leave her hand and it seem to become suspended in mid air. On it she saw her icon crossed out with a red X and next to it read, "Aura completely depleted."

Nora couldn't believe her eyes, "That's not posib-" She fainted from her injuries and her unconscious body began to plummet to the ground at top speed.

"I'll save you!" Yelled Ren as he jumped out to catch his partner. Her momentum pulled him down and the two rolled along the bumpy ground and smashed into a tree, "Gah!" yelled Ren, the pain momentarily seeping through his aura.

"So this is the strength of your 'Friend' eh?" said the cloaked man smugly as he leapt down to the ground, "And just when I thought you couldn't get anymore pathetic" he said, his voice suddenly dripping with disdain.

Ren staggered to his feet, murderous intent in his eyes, and clutching Nora's limp body tightly to his chest, "Stay away from her, from them! I'm the one you want Cyan!"

Cyan let out a hearty laugh, "You honestly think i'm so petty that after all this time I would come after you? I'm on a job, my employer sent me to kill that silver eyed bitch, They chose me. You know why?"

Ren gritted his teeth, "Because they said I was with them?"

Cyan laugh again, "Of course not! My you really think everything revolves around your worthless shoulders don't you! No They hired me because I'm the best in the business!

Ren grew angrier, "Then why did you follow me? You're letting your target get away!"

Cyan scoffed, "I'm letting my compatriot take care of that" right now I need to correct a mistake." He reloaded his gun and aimed it squarely at Ren.

" And I won't let a little stain like you, get in the way of the biggest pay day of my life! Just be grateful that it's your father that sends you to see your filthy mother!"

Ren dodged out of the way and bolted away from his father.

Cyan scowled, "As annoying as ever" He said as he began to give chase.

…

"We have to follow them!" Yelled Neo.

Ruby and Jaune whirled around to face her, the looks on their faces showed that they were still surprised by Neo's actions. "Well don't just stand there!" Yelled Neo again.

Ruby got into a battle position and yelled, "Get out of the way!"

Jaune ran up to Neo and pushed her behind him. He raised his shield in front of him and not a moment later they heard the impact of a bullet on it. Jaune lowered his shield slowly and the three of them saw the man who shot them emerge from the tree line, He wore a red button up shirt with a ripped leather biker jacket. He also wore ripped Jeans, an old leather biker jacket, and a black hat sitting on his slick, greasy, black and red hair, that was tilted downward to conceal his gun that he held in his outstretched hand was still smoking from the shot, he pulled it up to his lips and he blew omit to cool it down. He smiled and spoke in a slightly deranged tone "Well look at what we have here, a silver-eyed pipsqueak, a discount leader, and a slippery little rat, what a crew." He laughed.

Jaune and Ruby exchange quick worried looks, "Who are you?" Asked Ruby.

His smile widened, "Oh, you want to know about little old me? I believe your little friend here might be able to give you a crash course on your's truly."

Ruby and Jaune looked toward Neo in confusion, "What is he talking about."

Neo couldn't think straight, her mind and heart beat were racing a thousand miles a minute, her hands were clammy, legs were shaking, arms were numb, and she felt like she was going to throw up. "This can't be happening, oh god, This can't be happening..." Under her breath she repeated that plea over and over like a broken record"

The man sighed, "Oh come on, Cat got your tongue? Don't tell me you've forgotten?" He tilted up his hat to reveal…Neo shut her eyes and covered her ears. Splitting headache spread over her as she tried to tune out what the man was saying.

She vaguely heard the sounds of Ruby and Jaune yelling, as well as the sound of gunshots coming from the Forest behind them where Ren and Nora where.

The sound of her new friends' yelling amplified until she felt herself pushed to the ground by Ruby. She heard the clash of steel, Jaune must have engaged him. "This isn't real" she muttered. She heard a girlish scream as someone flew backwards past her, it must have been Jaune. She heard a gunshot as another person barreled through the air in the opposite direction, Ruby. After a few seconds of the sound of blade against blade she heard Ruby grunts she felled to the ground. The man spoke, his voice sending shivers down Neo's spine, "You little bitch, I was in the middle of a conversation! Why don't you just lie down and take a nap when the adults are talking!" She heard him kick her in the chest and send her flying into a tree at break neck speed.

"Now where was I?" He said. Neo heard the crunch of his boots as they came down on the gravel road, coming ever closer to her.

"Run!" A voice in her head told her, but she could barely hear it over the torrent of pain and fear that had seeped into every inch of her body, paralyzingly her. With ever sound of his foot hitting the ground, visions of that fateful night in the alleyway flared up. "It can't be him, it can't" she repeated over and over. But the visions kept forcing themselves into the forefront of her mind, the veiled figure of her assailant on that terrible night flashing before her. His form coming into sharper and sharper and sharper focus.

She felt her limp body be picked up by the neck and slammed against a tree. "Open your eyes! I'd loved to see those pretty multi colored eyes of yours again!"

Neo slowly began to open her eyes. They were all there, those crisp white teeth glittering in the sunshine, the beady red eyes that pierced through her soul, the sick look of satisfaction that meant he had you under his full control.

"Well?" He said with a chuckle, "You remember me? Come on say it! Say my name!" Neo began to cry as she spoke in a quiet shaky voice, "You're….you're"

He slammed her into the tree again and screamed in her face, "Speak louder! I want to make sure you don't ever forget it again!"

She spoke in the loudest voice she could, "YOU'RE CARBUNCLE!" She began to cry even more as her voice began to crack, "CARBUNCLE CASCADE!"

Carbuncle dropped her to to the ground, "There, was that so hard?" He smiled down at her, "It must be my lucky day, I never thought we'd find our favorite specimen again! Man, brother is going to be so happy to see you again, he might just break into song."

She began to shakily rise to her feet, "I won't, I won't go back there!" She screamed as tears rolled down her cheeks like rain drops.

Carbuncle rolled his eyes, "Come on don't be difficult, You don't want to upset your favorite teacher do you?" He kicked her in the stomach and she toppled to the ground like a house of cards. "Besides" he knelled down and reached for her face like the night in the alley, "The doctor is waiting for you."

Suddenly Jaune ran into view and bashed Carbuncle in the face with his shield sending him flying backwards. Jaune reached out his hand for Neo to grab, "We need to go!" He commanded. Neo snapped out of her confusion and nodded.

As soon as she got up Ruby began running towards them, "Thank god you two are safe" she said with relief.

Jaune looked toward the woods, "We need to get to Ren and Nora"

Ruby nodded and looked to Neo who was still in a daze, "You going to be all right?" She asked concernedly.

She nodded halfheartedly.

Ruby smiled, "Good" she said.

"That's great, we're all doing fine!" Said Carbuncle.

The three of them whirled around to see Carbuncle getting up from the ground with barely a scratch, "But you won't be-" Carbuncle opened his eyes, which were now a bright wicked red and seething with anger. "-ONCE I'M FINISHED RIPPING YOU BRATS LIMB FROM LIMB!"

The three friends looked at each other and all yelled in unison, "Run!"

They bolted into the woods with Carbuncle right on their tail, weaving in and out of the way of trees which Carbuncle simply knocked to the side.

That is when they saw them, "Ren!" Yelled Jaune. What She saw shocked her, Ren was battered and wounded while carrying an unconscious Nora over his shoulder.

The two groups converged together in a small clearing just as he collapsed to the ground panting, "What happened!?" Asked Jaune and Ruby frantically.

Ren could barely speak he was so out of breath, "We...lost..our..fight. You..guys have any...better luck?"

Ruby looked over her shoulder to see Carbuncle dashing madly towards them with murderous intent, "Nope!" She said in a terrified voice.

"Well then I guess this is the end" said a voice. The first man who attacked them strolled out from the shadows with a smile on his face.

Upon seeing him, Ren stagger up and pointed his gun at him, "Stay back!" He yelled hoarsely.

The man chuckled, "A bleeding heart till the end eh? Just sickening." The man spat on the ground in front of them.

Everything seemed hopeless to Neo, they were cornered between a man who seemed to have beaten her only friends with ease, and the monster that was going to drag her back to the lab. A shiver ran down her spine, "No" she thought, "Never again!"

The ice-cream haired wrapped her arms around her four friends and pulled them close to her, "Neo, what are you doing?" Asked Ruby perplexedly.

The assassin scowled, "What are you trying to pull?"

She looked around at the confused faces of her friends and then the helpless limp body of Nora, she clutched her fists, knowing what she had to do.

Carbuncle crashed through the bushes while laughing maniacally, "There you are!" He yelled.

He bounded forward to attack, "Neo let go! We have to get out of the way!" Yelled Jaune.

"No" said Neo commandingly.

Carbuncle was mere inches away from them now, his horrid face directly in front of Neo's but she stared him down. "I'm never being separated from my family ever again!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. In a split second she opened her umbrella directly between them and Carbuncle. When he attempted to cut the flimsy barrier apart with his weapon the 5 of them shattered into a thousand glass shards which evaporated into thin air.

"What!" Yelled Carbuncle in a rage of confusion.

Cyan cursed, "Dammit, we weren't told they had someone who could do that!"

Carbuncle stared at the place where his prey once stood, just like that they were gone, the target of his rage missing. Carbuncle screamed upwards into the atmosphere, "DAMMIT ALL TO HELL!" He wailed as he slammed his fists into the ground.

 **Ok, end of the two parter. The next few chapter I really want to take my time on so you guys will be getting another World of Remnnat next week. I hope what I am writing is worth the wait!**

 **please leave all your thought in a review if you have anything to say!**


	9. WOR: The White Fang

The White Fang

Long before the Great War, the kingdoms of the time viewed Faunus as a race of degenerate, disease carrying, mutants that were a threat to public safety. So the governments of the world came to a conclusion, the Faunus population must be isolated.

The location of the isolation would be a small, uninhabited continent to the south of Mystral named Menagerie. Naturally the Faunus of the world refused to be taken from their homes, thus the Faunus war began.

After 4 years of bloody conflict the governments of the world decided to give up on their plans. (Mostly due to the increasing cost of the war as well as the ever expanding borders of the Mantle empire). After a shaky peace was established the Faunus of the world created their first government, with the newly established "The White Fang" organization to act as ambassadors of peace to the rest of the world.

However the fledgling kingdom faced a behemoth of a problem not long after its founding. Since most of the world viewed them as a nation of savages many refused to cooperate or trade with them. The only group that wished to do business with the failing kingdom was the new and successful Schnee Dust company. The company feigned acceptance of the Faunus but in actuality the only thing they desired was the large quantities of dust found beneath them.

Within two decades the company held a monopoly over the small kingdom, practically enslaving half of the population. The White Fang leader, Count Dameus, decided that radical action was necessary to protect his people, the group then turned to terrorism and lashed out at the company. The Mantle government used this insurgence as an opportunity to forcefully conquer their land.

With the large quantities of Dust stolen from the Faunus in hand, the Mantle government began their campaign to "Unite" the world under their banner.

For the next Decade The Great War raged and ravaged the lands of Remnant, until eventually Mantle surrendered and peace was restored, however the Faunus government never again rose to power.

What was left of The White Fang petitioned and petitioned over and over again to regain their lost lands but their pleas fell on deaf ears. That was until they once again turned to violence, for years the White Fang once again lashed out against the world that ignored them. The world finally paid attention to the Faunus, but not to discuss peace, but to quash another rebellion. Eventually The White Fang was destroyed and reformed again as a peace keeping organization like the newly established Huntsmen.

It worked for a time, the rights and standing of Faunus all over the world began to steadily improve. That was until the president of the Schnee Dust company stepped down to make way for his son, Aibori Schnee. Aibori hated the Fanus people, due to his family's constant conflicts with them he grew up fearing that around every corner there could be a Faunus waiting to kill him.

Thanks to his enormous hatred of the Faunus populous, Aibori treated the thousands of Faunus employed at the lower levels of his company like what he always believed they should be, like slaves. Most of all he feared and loathed the members of the rare and elusive "sky clan" bird Faunus. Why it was these specific Faunus that he feared is unknown, but the dissaperance of the tribes acclaimed and peaceful matriarch one year roughly 18 years ago was met with many theories on Aibori's involvement in her vanishment.

The man cut Faunus wages, hours doubled their hours, and violated their rights at every turn but do to his massive influence the Atlesian government turned a blind eye to the Faunus' suffering. Once again, like clockwork, fighting began again. But it was slightly different this time around, for once the Faunus of the world were divided, many wished the blood of the schnee family to be split, some wished to peacefully ask the councils of the kingdoms to place pressure on the company to force their hand, other still wished to simply ignore the pleas of their brethren and simply live their lives under the public's radar.

For over a decade no peaceful or violent conclusion was ever realized until one day tensions reached a peak. A massive crowd of Faunus gathered around the schnee headquarters in a peaceful protest. The protest lasted for several days, street scuffles with civilians and Atlas personal grew more and more common, till eventually the Atlesian general, general Nasilan Daichi order his troops to fire on the crowd. Over a dozen Faunus died in the shooting and 70 were imprisoned. That day eventually became known by Faunus as "The Battle of Bloodied Peace".

General Nasilan was court marshaled, stripped of his title, and sent to prison, however this response seemed too little, too late. The incident sparked outrage from Faunus and humanitarians throughout the world, leading to riots and similar protest to crop up in all four kingdoms. However none of these were the straw that broke the camel's back, the true spark of revolution was a single man's words. The man was a former Faunus Huntsman named Damu, who was imprisoned during The Battle of Bloodied Peace, and claimed to be the son of the White Fang's original leader, Count Dameus. In the bowels of an Atlesian prison his anger and spite for humanity drove him to write one of the most infamous works of literature in recorded history, "The Third Crusade"

In the often banned book, Damu poured his heart and soul out over the crimes humanity had committed to all of Faunus kind, and how the world would only know peace if humanity was utterly eradicated. One famous quote from the text became a rallying cry for Faunus all around the world, and a haunting reminder for the world about how powerful hatred is.

"There is a simple solution to the dilemma our people face everyday, it is the same solution the humanity reached when they attempted to remove us. There is only room for one species in this world, let the blood of our children testify to it. This war of extermination began with our first Crusade, The Crusade of Liberty, Then came the second Crusade, The Crusade of Equality, now my brothers it is time to sound the drums of war and raise the banner of the finale holy Crusade, The Crusade of Supremacy! The Crusade of Peace! The Third Crusade!"

-Damu

Soon after its publishing the White Fang decided its course of action, war. They raided military bases and broke Damu from prison and declared him their leader. What followed was a two month long war that once again reopened the divide between Humans and Faunus. Luckily the war did not escalate much further, once their army reached a sizable number, Damu attempted to lead them through the sewers of Atlas to conquer the capital. However two unknown high ranking members of The White Fang who still supported peace leaked the plans to the the government.

In the underground network, a large group of expert huntsmen easily surrounded the small army and slaughtered them. Damu was sent to an Unknown Jail for the rest of his life and one of the two defected members became the new leader of the once again peaceful White Fang. This promising leader sadly disappeared several months later and was replaced with an absolute buffoon that failed to make much progress in the way of equality.

Wounds failed to heal properly after this short war, the only ones who profited from the suffering were, once again, the Schnnes. With all the confusion of the war a massive Grimm attack hit the village of the sky tribe. Without their fearless matriarch the Faunus were leaderless and quickly died en masse. Many thoeriests belive that the Schnnes were once again involved in this tragedy, but nothing has been proven.

Even with such speed bumps, the strives towards lasting peace were being made, which only made it that much more tragic when the leader of the White Fang stepped down and was replaced with a far more violent one. A man by the name of Bismuth who desired to continue the "Noble" goal of his father Damu and began to once again militarize the White Fang.

At his side he took four other lost souls who found no other purpose in their broken lives but revenge. _Arsenic Hide, The Ferocious Cannibal. Cordelia Blanc, The Eviscerator. Adam Taurus, The Horns of Change._ And finally _Pascal Crestwood, The Heatless Chimera_. These 5 have formed the infamous _Food Chain_ a symbol of the White Fnag's strength, and the nigh uncrossible divide between Faunus and man.

It is events like these that begs the question, "Why?" "What have we been doing wrong?" "Why must the path to peace and equality be littered with so many false starts?" Alas none of these questions have been answered.

Infact the only thing that has been learned from this long sad history is that if there is one thing that Humans and Faunus have in common it's that they never learn their lesson.


	10. Chapter 8: Wayward Son

**Sorry about the delay today, this took a lot longer then I thought. Hope it's worth the wait!**

Yang woke up feeling like shit, her whole body ached and the left side of her stomach felt ready to burst open. Yang groaned, she hadn't even moved yet and she already felt swore, so instead of getting up she looked around the strange room she was lying in. The old bed she was on was crammed in the far corner of the room away from the clutter that filled it. Next to the bed was a nightstand covered in pieces of scrap metal, machinery, and wires. The walls of the room were made of faded grey oak wood, dotted with shelves upon shelves of rolled up blueprints and schematics. The floor of the room was littered with gears, nuts, and bolts, in such concentration that the wood floor was barely visible. The only light in the room was the pale sunlight filtering in through the window overhead.

"Ok Yang, this is gonna hurt" said Yang to herself. She heaved herself up into a sitting position with all her might, "Gah, that was not smart." Yang clutched her side with her arm, she glanced to her right to check the stump of her other arm. The bandages had been changed and neatly replaced with new ones. "Welp, time to investigate" Said Yang. She slowly twisted herself around and gently pushed herself to her feet, "Careful" she thought as she slowly navigated her way past the maze of scrap on the ground.

Once Yang was out of the bedroom she gazed around at the central room of the cabin. It was very messy, as if it had been left uninhabited for a length of time, but the dust that one would suspect to have been fermenting their had been missing. "Someone has clearly been staying here recently" Yang thought. On the coffee table in the center there was a blueprint for artificial legs unfolded with a screw driver sitting on top. Yang saw her Ember Celicas lying polished next to it. "How did that get there" she thought. She fumbled around with it till she was able to reattach it to her wrist, "Out of ammo" she sighed. She latched the one former right hand to her clothes.

Yang noticed a burnt piece of paper was pointing out from under the blueprint, "Now what are you?" She said as she pulled the scrap from its hiding place. Upon closer inspection it was a photo. The colors seemed to have started to fade away and nearly the entire bottom half had been burnt away.

From what was left she could she a middle aged man in the corner wearing a small crack of a smile on his face. In the center, partially burnt away, were two girls. One had long straight blue hair with red highlights. She wore ragged street clothes and had spots of oil staining them. She was young, beautiful, and clearly happy if the playful smirk on her face told her anything.

The other girl seemed older, more composed and proper. Here clothes were fancier, or at the very least weren't stained and torn like the other's. Her hair was short and brown with a hint of gold. Her pretty curls twirled down in front of her face, partially obscuring the orange iris of her eyes and bobbed just above her wide, joyous, smile.

Suddenly Yang heard a bark come from outside the cabin, "What was that?" She thought. Yang slowly stepped closer to the door and opened it a crack. When she peered through the opening what she saw startled her, "Zwei!?" She spoke in disbelief. The black and white korge that her and her sister had loved for all their lives was just standing their, bright-eyed and bushy tailed looking up at her happily. "Zwei!" She yelled with joy, even though it hurt greatly she kneeled down and hugged the dog tightly. "I missed you so much!" She said as joy filled tears streamed down her face.

"Bark, bark" yelped Zwei happily. The loyal dog licked Yang's tears straight off her face causing her to burst into laughter.

"That tickles!" She said. She pulled Zwei from her chest and held him up to her face for inspection, "How did you get here? I left you with Mrs. Chesnut! Don't tell me you actually followed me?" Zwei barked affirmatively causing Yang to let out another chuckle, "You are a dog of many mysteries Zwei. And that is what I love about you." Zwei barked happily.

Yang placed Zwei down and looked around at the woods surrounding her, "Where are we?" She asked puzzledly.

"Bark" yelped Zwei before he ran off towards a path to the side of the cabin.

"You want to show me something boy?" Asked Yang. Zwei barked at her affirmatively so she followed.

What Yang saw on her walk disturbed her. From the hill they passed she saw the eerie ruins of a village. The burnt shells of houses lay in shambles surrounded by deserted streets and tossed items which she assumed were abandoned on the ground by fleeing people. The only signs of activity in the area were a few Beowolves scavenging around the ruins looking for any sizable remnant of humanity to destroy. Yang made sure to give the creatures a wide berth so she could avoid them, there was no way she would be winning a fight in her condition.

The two of them reached a small clearing on the outskirts of the town, in it lay a haunting graveyard overgrown with vines and other foliage. "Who is that?" Yang thought. Standing in the center of the yard was a young man wearing a thick brown winter coat and holding a small bundle of freshly picked roses. Next to him lay the body of a recently killed deer that the man must have hunted. Yang hid behind a tree out of sight from the stranger. "Come here Zwei" she picked up her dog land covered his mouth to keep him quiet. Zwei whined in protest, "Quiet!" Yang hissed softly.

She carefully inspected the figure till she realized who it was, "Mercury" she muttered. Suddenly the memory of her run in with him from the forest before she fainted came rushing back to her. "So he brought me here" she thought. Yang lifted her arm and glanced down at the wound the Beowolf gave her, "Why did he patch me up?"

"It's been a while" said Mercury. Yang froze and looked towards him, he wasn't talking to her, instead he was looking down at a pair of graves that appeared newer than the rest in the area. He placed the bundle of roses squarely in between the two and sat down cross legged. "I know I promised to visit you two more often but I've been busy." He said too the graves. He looked down at his right hand glumly and started fumbling around with a small piece of metal, "The new job didn't go so well, they kicked me out" he sighed. "Don't worry, the feeling was mutual. They shot me, I shot them, we're all very happy about going our separate ways." He said the last statement with his signature sarcastic tone.

Yang felt a pang of sympathy for the man, "He even talks to the dead, I thought my me and my family were the only people that pathetic" She thought.

Mercury continued his one sided conversation, "I have good news though, I'll be here to stay for awhile!" Mercury chuckled to himself and rubbed the back of his neck, "You see my boss kinda wants me dead now, you guys know how this business works right? Can't leave any loose ends uncut right?" He chuckled again then sighed deeply. The dark bags under his eyes made it very apparent that he hadn't slept properly in a long time, and judging by the weight of his droopy eyelids it looked like he was about ready to collapse at any moment.

"I'm sorry" he said quietly. He touched the smooth edge of one of the stones, "It's all backfiring, I succeeded though, I changed the world!" He raised his voice to a near yell towards the end of his sentence. "It's just that, I think I might have just broke it more." He let out a defeated laugh, "I know that's pretty hard to believe coming from me but I think I really did the impossible, I think I actually just made things worse." His grip on the metal object in his hand tightened and a tear ran down his cheek, "I'm sorry, but, I'm afraid you really did die in vain." He let out another laugh that turned into sob partway through. He covered his face with his hands and started to cry.

"Was this really Merc?" Yang thought. He seemed like a completely different person, the cocky son of a bitch that she fought in the tournament was kneeling there, completely destroyed. It disturbed her how eerily similar Mercury looked to her family on the day they buried Summer's empty cascate.

She slowly got up to step forward but promptly tripped over a tree root and face planted, "Ow, ow, ow!" She wined as she connected with the cold ground.

Mercury jumped to his feet and went straight into a battle stance and looked around wildly for an attacker, but when he saw Yang he rolled his eyes and silently mouthed the words, "Just great" under his breath.

"You shouldn't be out of bed" said Mercury drily as he walked over to Yang.

She looked up to issue a retort but stopped when Mercury offered her a hand and smiled, Yang muttered "Thanks" under her breath and allowed him to pull her back up to her feet. "Ow" she winced and placed her hand over her wound.

Merc slowly moved her hand away to inspect the stitches, "Thank god you didn't accidently reopen it, that thing was a bitch to take care of with want little medicine I have" He said with a little more humor in his voice.

Zwei barked happily and bounced up and down and licked Mercury's leg. Merc sighed heavily, "You're still here? How long are you going to bother me?"

"Wait, Zwei, you've met Mercury?" asked Yang in confusion.

Zwei barked and wagged his tail in happy confirmation before continuing to bug Merc.

Merc chuckled and finally petted the dog, "This is your's I assume? This mutt has been bugging me nonstop for the past few days while you were out cold."

Confusion washed over Yang, "Wait, how long have I been out?"

Merc thought over his answer for a few seconds, "About 4 days, frankly I'm surprised you can walk already."

Realization hit Yang like a tidal wave and she began to panic, "4 days!? Oh god, I need to get to Haven, stat!" Yang tried to push herself away from Merc but almost fell over in the process.

Merc caught her just in time, "Slow down! Why would you want to go there anyways?"

Yang grunted and responded to him in anger, "To help my sister fix YOUR mess!"

Merc paused for a second and sighed, "Man you guys are naive."

Yang felt her blood boil, "You little pest! I have half a mind to-" she stopped for a second as she looked into Merc's tired eyes and remembered the crying broken man that she had seen a few moments ago.

"To what?" He said in a deadpan voice.

Yang sighed, "-Nothing"

Merc analyzed her quietly for a moment before commenting further, "Sorry to say but you couldn't do anything to me right now if you wanted to, you can barely stand up!" He sighed for about the millionth time that afternoon, "Come on, let's go get you something to eat, It will be refreshing not to have to force feed you rations for once." He said with as much humor as he could muster.

As if on cue Yang's stomach growled and she blushed, "I assume you agree?" said Merc with a laugh.

"Don't mock me!" said Yang indignantly.

"Bark" went Zwei as he started dragging the deer carcass towards them.

"Hey, stop, stop! Don't drag it through the mud! You'll ruin the meat!"

Zwei stopped and looked down sadly.

Merc scratched his head, "If it makes you feel better i'll let you eat the scraps when we're done."

Zwei immediately perked up and started barking in delight and running circles around the two humans.

Mercury grabbed the deer by the antlers and heaved it up from the ground with one hand, "Here take my other hand to keep yourself steady" He said to Yang.

"Ok" she said as she took his hand cautiously.

As they began walking she glanced back over her shoulder to get one last look at the two gravestones that Merc had visited. Engraved upon the one to the left was the text,

 **Here lies Coral Apricot**

The little sister I never had

And upon the one to the right the text read,

 **Here Lies Sienna Apricot**

My sun, my moon, my stars

…

"There you go, easy, easy." Said Mercury as he was lowering Yang down onto the couch in the Cabin's living room. "Anything hurt badly?" Asked Merc.

"No, just sore is all" responded Yang.

Merc noded and walked off towards the small kitchen to the side of the room, "Well, I don't have much with me so I guess you will have to settle for plain pasta" Merc casually glanced at Zwei who was snuggling comfortably next to Yang's leg, "And don't worry, you will get the scraps"

Zwei barked happily causing Merc to smile. Since they were now inside and away from the dreary sight of the ruined village, Yang finally felt comfortable striking up a conversation with him, "You seem really good with dogs" she said.

Merc didn't look her way and continued preparing their meal but responded in a relatively cheerful tone, "Ehhh, it's more that they seem to always be obsessed with me, I guess I just needed to learn to put up with them"

Zwei barked playfully. Merc responded to him sarcastically, "Hey, I don't need sass from you, I'm the one feeding you!" He chuckled afterwards.

Yang wasn't sure what to say next. She needed answers from him, but didn't want to start a fight with him given his very unstable mood. She finally decided on her question, "Why did you go through so much trouble to help me?"

Merc paused for a moment to decide on a response, "I may not be the nicest guy in the world, frankly I'm kind of a dick most of the time…" He paused again and continued in a teasing tone, "But even I can't bring myself to leave a girl pretty girl to die in the middle of the woods."

Yang rolled her eyes but suddenly blushed when a disturbing thought came to her mind. She spoke in a slightly embarrassed and awkward tone, "Wait, so I was completely unconscious for 4 days...You didn't…"

Mercury stopped her there, "NO! I know what your thinking and the answer is no, I did not take advantage of you. It may be hard to believe, but even I know there are some lines that you just don't cross."

The two stayed in awkward silence for a few minutes, the only things interrupting it were the sounds of Zwei's panting and the crackle of the small dust fire that Merc had set under the pastas pot.

Without anything to do but wait for it to boil, Merc slowly paced around the cabin, trying his hardest to avoid eye contact with Yang. Yang tried one last time to respark their conversation, "So…this is your house-" Yang looked around at the shabby and poorly kept cabin, "It's…quaint." She said with forced enthusiasm.

Merc let out a genuine laugh, "Well that's one way to put it." He leaned against a windowsill and gazed out at the greenery around them, a smile on his face, "Closest thing I've really had to a real one though. Ran away from my pop once and crashed here for a year with a local family." Merc let out a heavy sigh, "I swear it looked better in its heyday."

Yang knew the conversation was drifting towards a very sensitive topic and that she needed to steer it in another direction and quick. She looked around the room for something else to talk about, her eyes landed on the supply of food laid out on the counter in the kitchen, "When did you learn to cook?" She asked.

Merc chuckled, "What is this an interrogation? Well I guess I just picked it up because I had to. The people here really made me pull my own weight, not to mention that my dad's cooking was more likely to kill me than fighting a Goliath one on one."

Yang sighed and worked up the courage to ask a question that she felt needed answering if she had any hope of understanding the strange enigma of a man she was talking to, "Who was your father?" She asked carefully.

Merc suddenly clenched his hands so tightly that he broke part of the windowsill. He looked at the mark he left with annoyance, "Great, another thing that I need to fix." He breathed deeply before acknowledging her question any further. He finally spoke after nearly a minute, "You want the short version or the long version?" He asked.

Yang wasn't sure how to respond and when Merc sensed her hesitation he sighed and continued speaking, "Ok, I'll give you both. The short version? His name was Marcus Black, and he was one hell of a jackass. The long version? He was a huntsman who did the government's dirty work for them without anyone knowing."

Merc spat out the window in disgust, "You needed some criminals arrested by any means necessary? You called him. Need to make a politically inconvenient rival die? Oh sorry, I mean 'Move to Menagerie'. You called him. Need to destroy a few lives to secure your plans? You called him" Merc chuckled darkly.

"Of course being in that line of work would quickly rip someone's mental stability to pieces but he kept himself intact with an endless supply of liquor." Merc looked at Yang and made an attempt at a witty remark, "Flawless plan though, can't tell you how it went wrong!"

Merc scowled, his tone getting more grimly sarcastic as he went on, "What's left? Ehhh, just the typical, moving constantly to avoid having human contact, being trained to be a killing machine from a young age, couple dozen beatings here and there, oh, one time he nearly killed my mom during one, miracle she survived, shame she didn't survive the next one…"

"Ok that's enough, I get it" said Yang, desperate to end the uncomfortable conversation.

Merc examined her worried face with tiered grey eyes that seemed too old and weary to possibly belong to someone her age, "Not so talkative anymore I see. Shame, you know me, I love talking about myself." For a brief moment he cracked a mischievous smile but it quickly faded.

The pasta pot began to boil and he quickly placed his attention on it, "Well we might as well have something to eat before we sink our teeth into more of your interrogation shall we?"

Yang considered her answer for a moment, she had always pictured her first run in with Merc or any of Cinder's gang would be some grand battle to the death between good and evil, but this had been anything but that. She thought that she would have already lost her patience and tried to have killed him by now, have already gotten her revenge and her friend's justice. But here she was, about to have lunch with him after he had saved her life and nursed her back to health. "There is more to this, I have to figure him out" she thought.

She turned to face him and said "Ok."

...

That night had been especially bad for Mercury, he had been visited by nightmares non stop for the past few months but for some reason they were much more vivid than usual. The events they showed felt as real and as painful as they ever were.

The first one was in the very same cabin he was currently hiding out in. Only it looked far newer and more well kept than it was now. The Mercury in the dream was lying on a bed unconscious with his pant legs rolled up to reveal the newly implanted robotic appendages. They were in near mint condition, with the only thing showing use was a few spots of oil and dry blood. The stumps where his body met steel were still red, the context of the memory came back to Merc, it was a little over a week after he had gotten them. His father hadn't given him a choice in the matter, he simply knocked him out and performed the operation on him while he slept. He had told Merc that it was the final step in his training, that with them he would have an advantage over the competition, and become the most powerful assassin in the world. He however did not take to fondly of the _"Upgrade"_ , and like any remotely sane person, he ran as far away from that psycho as fast as possible.

A voice rang out from behind the door to the room, "Does he have any identification on him?" said the voice of an older man.

"No, but he was armed, you don't think he is a huntsmen?" said a young man.

"Impossible, I have never seen a huntsmen this young, they would have sent someone older, heck if they knew I was here they probably would have sent one of those monsters from STRQ to take me out, not some greenhorn!"

The young man responded with a whisper, "He could be a scout" he said.

The other paused to consider the accusation when he heard the sound of two people walking up to them, "For the love of god he is not a spy!" Said a girl annoyedly.

The voice caused a flare of pain to crop up in Merc's heart, "Coral" he thought.

Another, more motherly voice, came from the other side of the door, "Calm down sis, and you two need to stop bickering, we won't learn anything if we don't gain his trust."

The door knob turned, "Now shoo while I treat our guest's wounds" she said playfully.

The door opened and a flood of raw emotion rushed forth across his dream, the fragmented memories of him and the girl's brief time together. The days eating ice cream and laughing at Coral's inability to not get it all over herself, the hours of laying in the meadow, too sore from master's training to move or talk, the time they went into the city and had gotten hopelessly lost, all the disagreements and fights that only a few hormonal teenagers could be petty enough to have, and that perfect night they shared beneath the sparkling stars. It all came rushing back, "Sienna" thought Merc longingly.

The young girl with golden brown hair and startling orange eyes stepped forward and knelt down to inspect past Merc's unconscious body, "No serious injuries, that's good." She mumbled, her curly bangs falling in front of her eyes only to be corrected seconds later. Past Merc began to stir from his sleep, "Already?" Said Sienna in a surprised tone.

He sat up in a daze, still sore all over. When he realized that he was in someone's house he jolted to his feet and got ready to punch anyone within three feet, a radius that Sienna was unlucky enough to be in. He threw out a panicked punch that Sienna dodged away from. She then grabbed him by the shoulder and instinctively flipped him onto the ground, "Ow, God that hurt!" Yelled Merc as he slammed on the ground.

Sienna looked down at him worriedly, "Oh God! I'm so, so, so, sorry! That was a reflex! I swear!" she said guiltily.

"Man you are a terrible doctor Sienna!" Said Coral mockingly as she walked through the door, her Blue and red hair flowing behind her.

As Merc began to stumble to his feet, now full awake, he spoke, "Where am I?"

Coral smiled, "This is Lullin, a nowhere speck of a village south west of Mistral City." Coral slapped Sienna on her back, "This here is my lovable older sister Sienna Apricot! Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?"

Sienna blushed, "I don't see how that has anything to do with…"

Coral placed her finger on Sienna's lips and hushed her, "Quiet Sis, the youngest is speaking.

Sienna protested, "Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?"

Coral ignored her, "Anyways, yours truly is none other than the mechanical prodigy, Coral Apricot!" She stared at Merc with her piercing deep blue eyes analyzing every inch of his body, especially his legs. "Now who are you? Or more importantly…" Coral jumped forward as if she was about to tackle Merc to the ground but instead latched onto his mechanical legs and began inspecting the from every angle, "Where did you get these bad boys? They're so simple, yet elegant at the same time! I think I'm in love!"

Sienna sighed, "Sorry about her, she gets...weird...around technology"

Past Merc looked quizzically at Coral who was now drooling all over his leg and rubbing her cheek against it like a cat would to its owner. He let out a confused laugh, "Yeah, I could tell" he lifted his leg and tried to shake Coral off.

"Fine" Coral said in a disappointed tone as she let go and landed on the sprang to her feet and stood patiently as if her outburst hadn't happened.

Sienna broke the ensuing silence first, "So, what was your name?"

Mercury's past self considered his answer for a moment before telling them, "Mercury, Merc for short."

Sienna continued her questions, "Me and Coral found you passed out in the woods while we were hunting, what were you doing out there?"

Coral chimed in, "Are you a Huntsman trying to kill dad?"

"Coral!, be nice!" She hissed, before returning her gaze to Merc, "But as my sister so bluntly put it, are you a huntsman?"

Merc responded quickly, "No, trust me, I want nothing to do with those guys!"

The two exchanged quick looks and nodded. It seemed the two were fully satisfied with his answer and looked back at him with bright and happy faces. Sienna spoke first, "If that's the case then welcome to Lullin!"

…

After Merc had gain the sisters' trust they allowed him to stay with them. It took a long time to convince their father, Fras Apricot, to allow it but he eventually warmed up to the idea and even started to treat him as family. He was a former huntsman. Him and his family had been on the run from the government for years, in other words the exact type of person his father made a living off of killing.

According to Sienna, the people of Lullin had been housing them because of their distaste for the huntsmen and their refusal to provide protection for them. As long as no one in the village ratted them out, Fras would guard it from the creatures of Grimm.

Eventually Merc told the three of them the full story, about his father, and how he got his legs. Coral was disgusted by it, saying that, "Technology was meant to make people's' lives better, not hurt them." Sienna was completely supportive of Merc and the two became much closer now that his secret was out. Too Merc's surprise, Fras didn't kick him out into the cold, but instead told him, "It appears you and I are the same, puppets in suspension made to dance to the tune of those stronger than us, those who claim to know what is best for the world. But you should be proud of yourself, your will has allowed you to reach up, and cut loose your strings, your free." And with that Merc had truly found a home.

Soon after Merc began training with Fras just like Sienna and Coral, Fras said it was in case, "Your puppet master tries to take me back." It was grueling, but Merc chose to do it. For the first time in his life HE chose to train, he wasn't made to by his father, he did it with his own two hands, by his own free will. It was the greatest time of his life.

That was until that fateful day, his dream shifted scenes till it reached a day about a year and a half later. Coral, Sienna, and himself had just gotten back from a hunting trip. He and Sienna were struggling to pull a giant deer through the doorway while Coral cheered them on from inside.

"Come on, come on, put your backs into it lovebirds!" yelled Coral mockingly.

"Oh shut up you little brat! Now get off your lazy ass and help us already!" Yelled Merc indignantly.

"Yeah, help already" Said Sienna quietly, still embarrassed by her sister's comment.

Coral rolled her eyes, "Fine, fine, I just didn't want to intrude on your quality time." She remarked.

But as she lowered her hand to grab the deer's leg, they heard a voice from outside, "Hello there, do you need any help?"

The three looked up to see a man with a smiling face and a black tuxedo carrying a briefcase. Coral and Sienna froze up before Sienna replied, "No, we are perfectly fine, now leave us alone."

The man sighed and remarked jokingly, "What does this town have against people of authority? Must be in the water or something."

Coral and Sienna exchanged glances and slowly reached for their weapons, Merc did the same.

"Stop" Yelled a voice from within the house.

The three turned to see Fras, stone faced and menacing.

The visitor's face darkened, "Fras my friend! It has been far too long."

Fras responded unemotionally, "Come in, Tange." He glared at Merc and the others and said sternly, "Get inside, now!"

The three of them obeyed without question, he smirked, "Yeah, listen to your pa kids, he's a lot smarter than he looks" he walked towards the entrance, Fras made sure to stay between him and his children at all times.

He grabbed Merc by the arm and whispered into his ears, "Go into the bedroom with Coral and Sienna and stay quiet. If anything happens run like hell."

The boy had been surprised to say the least, "But…" He stuttered.

He pulled him closer, his wise brown eyes staring directly into Merc's soul and sizing up his courage, "Please, I am trusting you with the two most important things in my life, DO NOT let me down." Merc nodded solemnly.

Fras turned to face the stranger and gave him a forced smile, "Sit, sit, my old friend, make yourself at home! You're my guest!"

The man smiled a sleazy smile that only a mother could love and said, "Why thank you, you and the missus were always so hospitable, I'm glad that even without her you're still polite."

Merc could tell that he was mere moments from attacking the man but restrained himself for the sake of his family.

"Let's get out of the way guys" said Merc as he grabbed Sienna by the hand.

"What do you mean?" Whined Coral.

He glared daggers at her and immediately shut her up, the three went into his bedroom and closed the door.

"What's going on? What did dad say to you?" Asked coral.

"We need to be quiet" He commanded.

"Merc?" Said Sienna worriedly.

Merc put his hand on Sienna's shoulder and spoke, "It's all right we just need to stay out of the way, your father can handle this."

Sienna and Merc stared into eachothers eyes understandingly, creating an incredibly awkward moment for Coral. She finally broke the silence, "So…are we going to eavesdrop or should I just sit here and watch you make out?"

Merc and Sienna rolled their eyes, "Fine, just be quiet for once" Said Merc.

Merc opened the door a crack and peered through it. The two men were sitting on the shabby couch in the living room and were making stiff and awkward small talk for a minute or two before things began getting heated.

"Your daughters are both growing into beautiful woman Fras" said Tange.

"Don't bring my family into this" Fras responded.

"I believe you brought them into it when you ran my friend" the stranger replied.

"You would have slaughtered us like pigs!" retorted Fras.

"An unfortunate side effect, but necessary"

"You here to finish the job?"

Tange smiled, "No, no, no, Fras, that would be too wasteful, I am simply here to give you a few-" He looked casually towards the door, "-Opportunities."

Fras looked at the door and for the first time, Merc saw him sweat. Through the door walked a Woman dressed in all black and red with a sheathed Katana, her long dark hair bobbed in front of her stoic red eyes.

He gulped "Raven" he whispered.

Raven smiled, "Hello Fras, it's been too long." Raven casually strolled into the cabin as if she owned the place and gazed around, "This place is so us befitting a scientist of your stature, the absence of a lab must be maddening."

Fras clenched his fist, "I don't want anything to do with that life, researching those monsters was hell!"

Raven chuckled, "Yes it was, you risk your life containing and studying beings that's only goal in life is to kill you. Pouring hours of time trying to make sense of them. And if you finally crack the code of and you learn their terrible secret, you find out everything your leaders told you was a lie. Then they kill you." Raven stared at Fras and smiled, "Ironic isn't it? You dedicate your mind and soul to them and they stab you in the back for doing your job."

His muscles tightened even more than they were, "If you're so sympathetic then forget you found me! Leave me and my family alone."

His two guests sighed before Raven continued, "Listen Fras, I have a plan, it's going to change the world. No longer will the people of this world be shackled to these stagnant kingdoms, or slaves to this wretched status quo! I'm going to build a new world!"

Fras' muscles softened slightly, "And why would you need me?"

Raven took a deep breath, "Do you remember project LEGION?"

He exploded onto his feet, "NO! Of all the monstrous ideas the higher ups concocted, that one took the cake!"

Raven rolled her eyes, "It underwent a small trial run in Vacuo while you were gone but it was very messy and failed, but we were close!" Raven stared him down, "The only thing missing was you! You and Azure drew up almost all the plans, and Azure couldn't do it alone! If we had you we could make it work! Humanity can finally gain the upper hand!"

Fras scowled, "All the blood that was split because of it, I could never return!"

Raven's voice rose to a yell, "You short sighted fool!" The sound shook the whole house.

"What's happening? Who is that?" Asked Coral impatiently.

Raven heard them and unsheathed her sword, In less than a second the door to the bedroom was cleaved clean in half and Merc had the tip of a bright red blade pointed directly in his face. Raven smirked, "You're right, enough blood has been spilt, but a lot more has to be-" She pushed the blade closer to them, "-I just hope it's not theirs."

Sienna looked helplessly at her father, "What's going on dad?"

The old father sighed and closed his eyes, "Mercury, remember what I told you"

Merc hesitated, "But you can't!"

He ignored him, "Raven, do you remember why I was nicknamed _'Dr. Light'?_ "

Raven looked at him confusedly before going a face of anger, "You wouldn't dare!"

He removed a bottle filled with a strange liquid from his belt, "My semblance was truly unique, wasn't it? Before she could respond he crushed it between his hands and an energetic light began to glow from his hands.

Tange began to panic, "What are you doing!? You'll die too!"

Fras smiled, "An accurate observation _'f_ _riend'_ now, how about we finally see how hot hell really is! The Light grew brighter and the air became electrified.

He opened his eyes and smiled at his children, "Please Mercury, go, go and never turn back."

"Dad no!" They screamed.

"Get down!" Yelled Merc, he tackled the pm to the ground just in time to avoid the blast of energy that nearly blinded them.

When the dust cleared they looked around frantically. The entire house was leveled, Fras was gone and Tange lay dead on the ground, eyes wide with shock, and Raven, who was banged and bruised and leaning on her sword for support, "Dammit! Dammit all to hell!" She screamed.

"Run!" he yelled as he grabbed Sienna and Coral and bolted into the woods.

"But Dad!" said Coral.

"No time!" He looked back at Sienna, fear etched into every inch of her face.

"Where do you think your going?" Said a disgruntled voice.

Merc froze in and slowly turned to face the source. It was his father, Marcus Black, leaning drunkenly up against a tree with a big smile on his face, "You really have made a mess of things haven't you?"

He began to sweat, his mind going a thousand miles a minute, "No" was all he could say.

"Merc is this...him?" Asked Sienna.

"Run away" commanded Merc.

Sienna protested, "But-"

"Now!" The silver haired boy commanded.

Sienna and Coral looked at each other and nodded, "Please be safe" said Sienna.

"I'll keep her safe" said Coral.

He looked longingly at the two as they ran on ahead, but then scowled as he turned back to his father.

His father chuckled, "So...you done playing house yet and ready to come back to reality?" Merc lowered himself into a battle stance.

Marcus laughed, "That's a riot, well, I guess you do have one hell of a beating coming!"

Marcus got ready for battle, Merc launched himself forward on with his gun legs to close the gap between them, he wanted to end this as soon as possible. And right as him and his father's first attacks met, the dream shattered and hewoke up.


	11. Chapter 9: Skeletons in the Closet

"Blake! Blake! Wake up Blake!" yelled a familiar voice.

Blake's eyes shot open, "What's wrong!" she yelled in a panic. Blake's eyes rested on her teammate Weiss who was sitting on the ground next to her.

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, "Finally you woke up! Me and Ciel have been awake for over 20 minutes."

Confused, Blake examined her surroundings. The two of them were inside a high tech cell of the Atlesian military. The walls were a shimmering porcelain white that suggested that it was either newly made or recently refurbished and the only noticeable feature of the entire room was a simple bench protruding from the wall which Ciel was sitting on. She had a scowl on her face and was staring at the wrist that once held her prized watch.

"Glad you're awake, now we all get to wallow here together" Said Ciel bluntly and without emotion.

Weiss scowled back at her, "Well you're a ray of sunshine as always."

Ciel rolled her eyes and responded sarcastically, "It is in my name after all"

Blake sat up and spoke, "They took our weapons I presume."

Ciel nodded, "And my hat" she said glumly.

Blake sighed and rubbed her aching temples, "Well, shit" she said. Did anyone at least get a good look at our attackers?" she asked hopefully

Weiss responded, "It was Emerald, and some weird guy using Ice dust"

Blake had to do a double take at her response, "Emerald!? You mean…"

Weiss nodded solemnly, "Yes, her and her teammates were the ones who orchestrated all of this."

Blake sighed once more and spoke in an exhausted tone, "They were right under our noses the whole time, Dammit, we should have investigated them after hearing Yang's story!" Blake punched the wall with full force but recoiled in pain, "What?" She said as she looked at her arm which was throbbing with pain, Weiss took it in her hand and examined it while Ciel looked on in curiosity.

Weiss spoke, completely baffled, "That makes no sense, your aura should have fully regenerated by now, that shouldn't have hurt."

A voice came from outside the cell, "You can thank the Atlesian army for that, it's the newest advancement in the line of anti-human weaponry. To be honest I think it's quite groovy!"

The three of them jumped to their feet and looked towards the small round window that was the only opening to see out of. A man with bright blue hair and a lab coat casually walked into their field of vision while leaning on what appeared to be a mic stand.

"You're the one who attacked us! The one who used ice dust!" yelled Weiss.

The man smiled and clapped his hands, "Good job Miss Schnee! Since you fell for my little trap I was seriously wondering how you made it through Grade School but after witnessing that incredible act of deduction I'm curious how you aren't already a professor! He glanced and Blake and scoffed, "As for you Rat, your intelligence is still up for debate."

Blake hissed at him and he jumped backwards in an exaggerated and mocking fashion before laughing.

"Chill out kitty-katt! One more outburst like that and I'll have to throw you back on to the streets where you belong" he said condescendingly.

Ciel inspected the man's face before going wide eyed in shock, "Azure? Oh god that can't be you! You're in jail!"

Azure smiled, "Ciel! I can tell your ecstatic to see your godfather again! Tell me, is old man Sol still as cranky and morally bankrupt as ever?"

Ciel scowled, which only made Azure's smile widen, "My employer kindly let me and my brother out of our stuffy prison, now I'm back in business!" Azure struck a pose like a singer that had just finished their signature song at a concert.

Weiss, tired of not getting any straight answers, barged into the conversation angrily, "Why did you do this? What do you and your employer want? Are you connected in any way to what happened at the Vytal festival?"

Azure chuckled and lazily leaned on his mic stand, "Well my employer's identity is classified, contracts and all, you know how it goes. And sadly no, I was too busy counting the specs of dust in my cell to take part in that fiasco at Vale. Honestly I'm not fully sure what the boss is trying to accomplish with that but, hey I guess that's not something a lowly grunt like me needs to worry about" Azure shrugged.

Ciel stepped forward to stare her godfather in the eyes through the thin glass of the window. His empty icicle like eyes looked at her amusedly, and even with the wall between them, she still got shivers down her spine from the sheer cold that seemed to radiate from his aura. Ciel carefully considered her words before speaking, she had to appeal to Azure's intelligent side if she was going to get a straight answer out of him, "You must at least know why you were ordered to capture us. The scientist I know would never act before having some clue to the outcome."

Azure hesitated for a moment before he burst into laughter, "Oh Ciel, Ciel, Ciel, just as determined to get what you want as always huh?"

Ciel did not waver at the outburst, "Does this have anything to do with my father ratting you out to the police? Are you using me as leverage to lure him into a trap?"

Azure laughed again then leaned forward on his mic stand till his face was almost touching the window, "Please Ciel, I'm not so petty as to let something like that motivate me. I was seconds from framing him for all those morally questionable experiments, but alas he framed me first. None of that matters now anyway.

Ciel was taken aback by his response, "What do you mean framed? The experiments you were doing were horrible! My father would never have had anything to do with them!"

Azure rolled his eyes, "My dear I thought you would have grown out of your Naivety by now but I guess I was wrong. Do you honestly think your father is any less of a madman than me? In fact when it comes to his dubious experiments, a little robot with aura comes to mind…"

Something in Ciel seemed to snap and she was instantly filled with rage, "Don't you dare bring Penny into this! You hear me? I'll kill you!" She punched the window with all her might, an action that made Blake and Weiss flinch but left Azure unfazed.

The four stood in silence for a few seconds before Azure's creepy smile resurfaced, "Us lifeforms are so predictable" He said with an amused voice. Ciel Blake and Weiss all looked at him curiously. He continued, "We are driven by nothing but instinct and emotion, when put under enough stress and emotional trauma we all eventually break and act like wild animals, even ones as composed as you." He let out yet another laugh before turning to leave.

Ciel yelled out at him, "Come back! If not to get revenge then why are you doing this! It makes no sense!"

Azure responded without even stopping to facing her, "We might not want your dad dead but we certainly need his help, same goes for your dad to miss Shcnne. Once my boss pulls them from the White Fang's rabbed jaws, your well being will be a great incentive for them to work with us." Azure stepped out of the room, but just before he closed the door he turned to face his captives one last time and told the, "By the way, those big ankle bracelets you have stop your aura from regenerating, so don't think about using your semblances or anything to get out of there. Regardless, make sure to have some fun here at Casa de Cascade!" He slammed the door shut leaving the three captives in total, oppressive, silence.

Ciel slumped down to the floor in defeat and held her head in her hands. Blake and Weiss exchanged awkward glances, neither of them really knowing what to do. Blake spoke first, "Ciel, just who was that guy."

Ciel looked up at them, her eyes red and barely holding back tears, "Just some psychopath my dad used to work with, I thought I saw the last of him years ago when he went to jail." Ciel sniffled and looked down at the floor.

Weiss sat down next to her "Let me guess" she said. "Not something you want to talk about?" Ciel noded and Weiss pulled her into a tight embrace, a few sobs escaping from Ciel when she did.

Blake looked on at them, not knowing what to say. The two really were alike, both girls raised in high society, nothing but the highest expectation to meet, and with fathers that had more skeletons in the closet than fancy suits.

Blake sighed, she always underestimated how much pain people like them went through. Even when she tried to put others first, deep down she always harbored a resentment for people wealthier than her, always assumed that they had no real problems, that they could never understand the struggles people like her, the fanus, had to go through to survive. But every day with Weiss in Beacon, and every day on the road with these too showed her that everyone had pain, everyone had something that ate them up inside.

Ciel regained her composure and began speaking in her normal regimented tone, "I think I may have a way out of here" she said.

Blake and Weiss looked at her quizzically, "How?" They said in unison.

Ciel moved her leg outward to inspect the ankle bracelet that was blocking her aura. She closed her eyes and grabbed it with both hands. For a few seconds everything was still until sparks began flying from the metal and small bolts of electricity came jumping up. Blake and Weiss jumped back in amazement, "How are you doing that without aura or dust!?" Exclaimed Weiss.

Ciel ignored them, "Almost, Almost, just a little more and…done!" Her eyes flew open and and the bracelet broke clean in two. Ciel looked up at her friends who were now gawking at her in amazement.

"How did…" muttered Blake. But before she could continue Ciel interrupted.

"I'll tell you later, but first you two come here, I need to remove your's as well" she said.

The two allowed Ciel to release their shackles, afterwards Ciel stepped towards the door, "Okay Ciel, You can do this" She said. She placed her hands on the door and concentrated. Soon sparks and lightning flew from her hands and the door blasted open. Ciel nearly fell over from exhaustion, "Ok, let's go" she said.

Blake and Weiss exchanged worried looks, Weiss then slung Ciel's arm around her shoulder and steadied her, "You look exhausted, let me help you."

Ciel let out a small laugh in between deep breaths, "Thanks" she said.

…

"We're lost aren't we?" Asked Weiss.

Blake looked at her worriedly, "N-no! I promise! My ears have never let me down!" she twitched her black cat ears. She had removed her bow to allow her to hear better.

Ciel, who was now able to fully support herself and was walking on her own, rolled her eyes, "You two might want to be quiet, I'm not in the mood to fight Azure on his home turf."

Blake and Weiss gulped in unison, "Good point" Said Blake. The three of them continued in silence for awhile longer in the labyrinth like tunnels of the military complex, avoiding the sight of any soldiers they came across until they stumbled upon Azure's office. "It's empty," said Blake, her ears pressed against the door.

Weiss looked at Ciel, "Do you think we should check in there? He may have something that could tell us what the hell is going on."

Ciel considered the option and grudgingly agreed, "We have to be quick, they could discover were gone any second now and sound the alarm."

The three stepped inside the high tech room and looked aimlessly at the strange assortment of jars and boxes lining the room. "Guys look!" said Blake happily.

Ciel and Weiss looked towards where their friend was pointing and were surprised to see their weapons lying on one of the tables, "Perfect!" Exclaimed Weiss. "Grab them and whatever we can so we can get out of here fast!"

"Hold on" said Ciel as she spotted the computer on Azure's desk. "I want to investigate for a second."

Weiss and Blake curiously followed Ciel to the computer as she began checking its files.

"He has to have a map of this damn building somewhere in here."

After a few minutes of bypassing Azure's security, "He really needs to think of better passwords than 'Baby' or Rock'n'Roll" she thought, They eventually stumbled across files that were labeled "extremely sensitive" After considering for a moment, they opened them.

"It looks like data from some sort of experiment," said Weiss.

"What does it say?" asked Blake.

Ciel inspected the text and read it aloud, "Project LEGION, plans proposed by Dr. Fras Apricot and Dr. Azure Cascade test run experiment: 30 viable young subjects from Vacuo selected for strength and mental alteration procedure."

Blake looked at them with a look of worry on her face, "Mental Alteration, Those are two words that you NEVER want to see together."

"Quiet, let her finish." Said Weiss, an anxious and disturbed look on her face.

Ciel continued reading the document, "Subject between ages 14-27 selected as optimal age for procedure. Subjects 1-13 as well as subjects 21-28 died immediately upon the end of the procedure's second step."

"God" Muttered Blake in disbelieving hushed whisper.

"There is more" said Ciel before she kept reading.

"Subject 30, name: Vanila, age 14, only subject salvageable, picture below."

Ciel scrolled down to view the image which caused Weiss and Blake to gasp.

"That's Neo!" said Weiss.

Ciel looked at them confusedly, "Who?" she asked.

Blake leaned in closer to get a better look at the image, "One of Torchwick's henchmen, I can't believe she's wrapped up in this too."

Ciel looked back at the image. What she saw was a girl younger than Ruby, Beaten and bruised with frayed and faded brown and pink hair. The most distinguishing feature the girl had were her strange dichromatic eyes that held a mixture of pain, fear, and resentment.

"There is a little more on the page" said Ciel.

She scrolled down to see the last part of the lab report, "Subjects 14-20 as well as subject 29 survived the second phase of the procedure but instead suffered a sudden and strange transformation."

"The hell does that mean!?" Yelled Blake, slightly louder than she probably should have.

"This is getting more and more disturbing" said Weiss.

"Hold on, there should be a picture of the subjects around here…" said Ciel. She clicked on a tab at the bottom of the page and opened up the image she was looking for. "Oh god!" she said. Weiss leaned over the nearest trash can and vomited. Blake looked away from the picture and began swearing profusely. Ciel immediately slamming the laptop shut.

Blake, in a state of pure anger, spoke first, "We need to get this to Haven's headmaster! He can do something! He can…"

Ciel interrupted, "He could do what? We don't know how long ago this took place. We don't know if their still doing this, we don't know if it has any connection to what's happening now."

Blake looked at her in surprise, "So we should keep this secret? Let all those people who became...one of those...be swept under the rug? I refuse to accept that!"

Ciel tried to reason with her, "This was in an Atlesian compound, if this gets out now of all times then it will be the straw that breaks the camel's back! Mistral and Vacuo will go to full scale war and countless people will die!"

The room went silent before she continued, "Also...Azure is a huntsmen not affiliated directly with Atlas, that could very well mean that...other academies had a hand in this."

Blake nearly leapt at the accusation, "You think that are teachers may be responsible for this? Are you crazy?"

Ciel let out a dark laugh, "Want it you who said the huntsmen couldn't be trusted? Well good news, I believe you now."

Blake sighed tiredly. Ciel stood up and placed her hand on Blake's shoulder, "Blake" she said.

Blake looked her in the eyes, awaiting her next statement, "Maybe this is one skeleton that should stay buried for a little while longer." she said.

After a brief staring contest to measure up the other's will Balke conceded, "I guess you're right, but what do you think Weiss?"

Weiss, who was still crouching over the trash can, sat up and said weakly to them, "Let's just get out of this damn place already.

Ciel smiled, "Ok, just let me check the computer a bit more for the map."

Ciel, picked up the laptop and carried it over to the corner of the room. Blake pulled up a chair and sat down next to Weiss, "You ok?" She asked.

Weiss looked away, "This is pathetic, I shouldn't be acting like this."

Blake placed her hand on Weiss' shoulder, "Don't worry, I don't think any less of you for this."

Weiss looked at her in surprise, "You don't?" she asked.

Blake smiled, "Of course not, we need someone a bit on the sensitive side if we are going to save this world. If we all become hardened, stone faced warriors, then we could end up being just as bad as these people. That gut reaction we have to this type of stuff, it's what makes us human, erm...Fanus in my case" she said.

Weiss smiled, "Ok, I'm feeling better, let's get out of here" she said.

Ciel chimed in, "Perfect timing I just got the full map, there is also a cargo ship leaving for Mistral from here in a few minutes, if we hurry we can make it."

Before they could move out they heard footsteps coming from down the hall, "Hide!" hissed Blake. The three scattered to different corners of the room and hid behind stacks of discarded boxes.

Seconds later Emerald walked into the room, "Strange" she muttered to herself, "I could of sworn I heard Azure talking" She continued. Emerald walked slowly around the room to investigate till she saw that the weapons were missing, "Shit" she yelled.

Before she could react, Blake leaped from behind the desk and tackled Emerald to the ground, Ciel ran up and tried to help Blake restrain her. "Get off of me!" yelled Emerald.

Ciel began looking around wildly, "We need something to gag her with!" She said frantically. Weiss had an idea and leapt to her friends aid. She drew her Myrtenaster and loaded a vial of ice dust as she slammed the tip of the blade next to Emerald's head. Ice spurted out from the ground and rapped Emerald's mouth and most of her face.

Once Blake and Ciel had finished subduing her they took blake's bow, much to Blake's protest, and tied around her like a blindfold, "I don't think your semblance will be much help now will it?" Said Weiss cockily.

Emerald tried to yell but her mouth was frozen shut and all that escaped was a few sounds of enragement.

"Let's put her in that locker in the corner, we can't have her in plain sight" said Blake.

Ciel and Weiss dragged Emerald, who was constantly squirming and kicking, to an old locker and threw her inside, "I'll be taking these" Said Weiss as she removed Emerald's weapons.

Ciel saw her beret attached to Emerald's belt and chuckled, "So that's where you went" she said.

Ciel scowled and looked at Emerald, who was staring back at her with an enraged ferocity. Ciel pulled back her fist and punched Emerald as hard as she could, knocking her out in the process. Weiss and Blake stared at her in surprise.

Ciel cracked a smile as she removed her Beret from Emerald's unconscious body. As she firmly placed it on her head she said, "Let that be a lesson, Don't you EVER, touch my hat."

Ciel smiled and looked back at her surprised friends and said, "Now, let's catch a boat shall we?"


	12. Chapter 10: White Lies

_**Ok, so this one is easily the longest chapter yet. I'm reaching the end of volume 4 and I wanted to make sure I got everything I wanted to in. I hope you all like it!**_

By the time the sun began to rise, Shade academy was reduced to ash and there was blood and dust scattered across the graveyard of a battle field. Roughly a fourth of the huntsmen that had attended the meeting were lying dead on the pavement of the school, over 200, more than had died during the fall of Beacon. The remaining huntsmen were either to wounded, or too exhausted to keep fighting. The students who had remained at Shade after the end of the school year were either dead or scrambling to help the injured. The once esteemed huntsmen sat in scattered bands in the ruins. Tending to their own wounds in complete silence, the gravity of what had happened finally sinking in.

Cinder thought the city the previous night was as depressing as the world could get. The feelings of despair, pain, and hopelessness in the air was thicker than it had been at Vale when the whole city heard the deafening cry of the Grimm Dragon. Cinder could feel the ravenous Grimm clawing on the walls of the Vacuan capital at that very moment, the nation's army was probably busy desperately fighting them back, wondering when their precious heros would save them. The thought made Cinder snicker, "Here are your champions, world!" She thought. "These are the ones you put your absolute trust in, these are the humans that failed you!" She felt the tips of a smile appear on her face.

"Why Cinder, what is so funny? I doubt any of us sorry soles have many grade A jokes to tell." Said a calm voice. Cinder turned to see her ally of convenience, Jacob Cemalt, sitting on a pile of rubble while smoking a pipe. His old sword and scabbard lying on the ground next to him, currently drenched in blood.

Cinder looked at his burnt and tattered suit, "I'm laughing at your attire, I thought you and Edna were always obsessed with your appearances where you not?" She said sarcastically.

Jacob chuckled and let out a puff of smoke that he watched disappear into the air before speaking, "A necessary sacrifice I assure you, after a shower or two I will look as as proper as a penguin! Now come, sit." Jacob motioned Cinder to sit next to him and she begrudgingly accepted the offer. "I find it strange that you insult my appearance while you look like someone tossed you off a roof." He remarked.

Cinder scowled as she looked at her frayed hair and ripped battle gear, "I can thank your leader for that, I never would have guessed that her and that drunk where Reapers…" she said.

Jacob sighed and let out another puff of smoke, "I'm surprised you of all people were caught off-guard by that." You are Salem's little pet after all, I honestly expected more from the "Vanguard of our Destruction" he said.

Cinder's scowl grew, "Your as insolent as the rest of your kind it seems, besides, I've only seen two other Reapers in my life, and they both died awhile back."

Jacob rolled his eyes causing Cinder's blood to boil, "Honestly, why do I even bother with you Humans"

Jacob looked at her curiously, "Why do you bother?" he asked.

Cinder was taken aback by his question, "What?" she said.

Jacob chuckled and continued talking in a mocking, sarcastic, tone, "I mean why do you bother with our 'Lowly' kind? Clearly someone as 'Omnipotent' and 'powerful' as you need not associate with us? Why have you allied yourself with my boss? Why did you make that ragtag group of terrorists to tear down Vale?" he asked.

Cinder hesitated for a brief moment, "I needed them, They were necessary to my plans." she said.

Jacob checked his pocket watch and laid back against a large rock, "So you do need humans. So that makes why you side with Salem all the more complexing, doesn't she have a sort of 'kill us all' plan in the works?"

Cinder scoffed, "I don't need your questioning human, while I do find your kind to be an object of interest I know which way the winds of change are blowing, I will make Salem's dream a reality even if it costs me my life!"

Jacob rolled his eyes, "Yes but aren't you also human? You certainly look a lot better than a grimm, how did she pick you up?"

His last question struck a cord in Cinder and she felt her anger rise, "What is this? Twenty questions? I have a question for you human, why are you aligning with me? Why do you help your annihilation?"

Jacob let out his biggest sigh yet and rose to his feet, "When you look out at this battle field, what do you see?" he asked.

Cinder was surprised by his question but answered it nonetheless, "I see a group of pathetic beasts that have lost what meaningless hope they had left" she said.

Jacob laughed a hearty and genuine laugh and took a pistol out of his pocket, "This is Ironwood's I took it from him after me and Edna beat and imprisoned him and his colleges" he said before turning to look Cinder in the eyes, "Do you know what this and the ruins we are standing in have in common?"

Cinder could not think of an answer to his question so she simply asked him, "What do they have in common?"

Jacob held up the pistol up to the sun, causing the chrome plating to glisten in the light, "They represent an end of an era" he said. "An era where humanity ran from the ones they feared and wallowed in the cages they built for themselves. An era where we waited for our destroyers come for us, and hope that the token heros we raised can win an impossible fight."

Jacob smiled as he looked towards a group of Shade students clamoring for medicine to give to wounded huntsmen, and in the center of them was Edna who was barking orders to her little children. He spoke again, "What do you think those kids are feeling?" He asked.

Cider examined the tired faces of the students. They were the members of Team BRNZ and Team NDGO from the Vytal festival. They looked like zombies ready to drop dead from exhaustion, from the looks of it Cinder doubted that they had had any decent sleep since the fall of Beacon. "They look like hope has left them" she said bluntly.

Jacob chuckled, "It has, at least mostly. But do you know why they continue on?" He pointed at Edna, "It's because they believe in her, they believe in their master. Her leadership is the source of their hope" he said.

Cinder scoffed, "She couldn't care in the slightest about them. She was in on this whole thing after all!" She said smugly.

Jacob smiled, "Does it really matter to them though? They will never know that, as far as they are concerned, Edna is their fearless leader that is looking this calamity directly in the eye and not wavering. What lies beneath the surface is of no consequence to them." Jacob exhaled another puff of smoke before resuming his speech, "In the end, to be an inspiring leader has nothing to do with your motives or moral fiber. All that matters is that you're inspiring."

The sound of movement and whispers aroused the scattered group of wary fighters as many heads turned towards a figure walking towards the center of the ruin. Jacob smiled, "Pay attention little puppet of Grimm, Here comes their inspiration."

Cinder looked towards the figure, it was Raven, battered, bloodied, bruised, and the unconscious body of her now half-dead brother, "I guess she won that fight" Cinder said under her breath.

Raven stood in the center of the carnage with an unreadable expression on her face. Like moths drawn to a flame, the crowds of wounded huntsmen and students formed a circle around her and waited in silence, hoping that the fiery words of encouragement that she had spouted the night before would return again.

Raven looked around at the crowd and sighed, "What a pity that it came to this" She said in a tired tone. "This meeting had such a good chance at a peaceful outcome, but deep down I feel we all saw this coming" She stared out over her audience, "Am I wrong?" She asked.

There was a few seconds of nearly inaudible murmuring amongst the onlookers but no one protested.

Raven looked down sadly, "Then shame on us, shame on us all" she yelled in such a thunderous voice that most of the crowd winced. She continued, "We have been so busy, arguing over politics and militaries that we let our enemies threaten the world and peace we all love. And even after we allowed that bickering to drive us to civil war!" she yelled once more.

Many in the crowd looked down in shame, Raven used that opportunity to continue her speech, "Incase it hasn't been made clear, this senseless politicking, and the influence of everyone's favorite general, have destroyed this once sacred band of heroes, but no more!" Raven tossed her brother's sleeping body on the ground next to her and held out her sheathed sword for the whole crowd to see, "I forged this blade with my own two hands when I was a teenager, I have dedicated my life to protecting the common good, not to being pawns for some power hungry general to use as a stepping stone to power!"

Her words began to stir the crowd's emotions, and many of the once hopeless faces seemed brighter, more alert and energized. Raven smiled, "Last night the huntsmen as this generation knows it had been destroyed in a raging fire of deception, but mourn not! Amidst the chaos and fire, the ones who were polluting and corrupting our ranks, the followers of the arrogant tyrants Ironwood and Ozpin, were defeated and imprisoned by my friends, Master Edna Crimson of Shade, and Master Jacob Cemalt of Haven!"

The crowd broke into a mall cheer for Edna who was standing in the front row of the crowd, several of her students standing next to her and gazing at her with the utmost pride and respect.

Rave made sure to keep her newfound momentum going, "Wipe the ash, blood, and dust from your faces my friends, for on this day let it be know that I, Raven Branwell, refuse to let this day mark the end of our noble cause. Let it be know that on this day the Huntsmen were reborn! Not as slaves to the governments but as the heros this world needs!"

A far louder cheer erupted from the crowd as Raven continued on, "As for the all those that sided with the general on this damned field of battle, do not hold your head in shame! Even though that night will never leave our memories, know that I forgive you! Know that I welcome to you by my side with open arms! Know that you still have a place amongst this great league of heroes!"

Once again the crowed roared and clapped with cheer.

"Today I stand vigilant! Today I stand ready to fight the hoards of grimm at our doorstep! Today I stand ready to be the noble hero our children deserve! Today I refuse to let these 'Politicians' stand in the way of of humanity's salvation! Today I am a huntress! Today WE ARE ALL HUNTSMEN!"

The crowd once again roared with so much boundless enthusiasm, that if you heard it, you would never have guessed that a battle had taken place the night before. The crowd surrounded Rave and hoisted her up into the air like a hero and began chanting in reverent tones, "RAVEN, RAVEN, RAVEN, RAVEN, RAVEN!"

Cinder looked on in confounded curiosity, "They had given into despair mere moments ago, now they act like it never happen." She thought.

Jacob chuckled and glanced amused at Cinder, "It must truly be confusing to a stick in the mud like you, to see humanity bounce back so readily, huh?"

Cinder responded coldly, "It is, it makes absolutely no sense, you humans are truly stupid."

Jacob looked wistfully of towards the crowd as he let out another puff of smoke, "Ozpin was a coward, always hiding behind his children, hoping that his little prison for Salem would hold up for all eternity." But we know better. We know that regardless of how much we try your master will break free one day and humanity will face its greatest threat in over ten thousand years."

Jacob looked back at Cinder, his rusty brown eyes locked with her demonic lava red ones, "Raven aims to save us, she will free your god from her shackles and prove humanity's worth, she will prove that we aren't just some maggots feeding off her carcass, that we are so much more, that it would be a waste to simply kill us."

Cinder smiled a wicked smile, "I'm sure Salem will find a place for your species in her new world order, but what if she doesn't?" Cinder leaned in closer to Jacob,"What if even after all your effort, Salem still deems you unworthy of living amongst her?"

Jacob looked back at the still cheering crowd, the strong men and women that under Raven's care would grow to be not only the strongest army the world had ever known, but also a beacon of hope to all of mankind, he smiled brightly, "Then she will be in for the fight of her immortal life."

...

Neo thought her day couldn't have gotten any worse, but once she realized that she had passed out upon teleporting her friends she sighed, "Great, am I going to get another emotionally traumatizing flashback?" The black void around her melted into a slightly less dark, but still poorly lit, hallway. "Yep, I guessed it, thank you God, it really means alot to me" she thought sarcastically.

From one end of the hallway she saw the door to a Lab with a bright light filtering through its window, illuminating the words on the wall next to it. Neo mouthed the words to herself, "Project LEIGON" it read.

Neo felt a slight chill run down her spine but she felt oddly relaxed, she knew what scene of her life was going to play out before her next. It had played before her eyes countless times through her nightmares and daydreams, but she didn't care anymore. She was probably already dead, after all she had never tried to teleport a whole group of people over a long distance before, the trauma probably killed her immediately.

"That doesn't matter" she said to herself, she saved the only people who ever treated her like a real person, and not just an object in their way, or a tool to be used. She saved them, she saved Nora.

Neo felt a faint smile appear on her face, "Alright God, show it to me already!" She called out into the blackness of her dream, she was ready for the scene to play one last encore before she would fade away into an endless sleep.

As if on cue the doors on the other side of the hall flung open and several brutes began speedily walking towards the lab doors. They were half carrying, half dragging, the limp bodies of three teenagers. One of the teens' faces was missing, another fragment of memory that Neo had let fall to the waist side. The second one was Topaz, her clothes tattered and dirty and her perfect hair in a complete mess. The third was of course Vanila, looking to be in an even worse shape than she was in the alleyway.

The three began to wake up once the group was halfway across the hall.

"Where...are...we?" Said Topaz, completely out of it.

Vanila and the other captive began to stir as well, "Who...are you people?" Said the faceless captive, slightly more alert than Topaz.

Vanila finally opened her eyes fully and her vision came into focus on the man at the front of the group. The man noticed her staring and looked over his shoulder and gave her a crooked smile, his red eyes hungry for blood, "Well the ice cream cone is awake! That will make this interesting." He said.

Neo spat at the man even though she knew it wouldn't hit him, it was a dream after all. "Burn in hell Carbuncle" she muttered.

Vanila and the other captives quickly remembered what had happened in the alley and looks of horrified realization spread across their faces. "Who hired you!? What do you want!?" Screamed Topaz in a panic, "If it's money you want my father can pay you, just please don't hurt me!" She quickly spouted at her captor.

Carbuncle let out a laugh of almost child like amusement, "Please, please, Paz, can I call you Paz? Your scumbag loan-shark father couldn't offer me diddly squat!" Carbuncle chuckled.

Topaz tried to struggle and kick her way out of the brutes that held her but to no avail. The faceless captive kept muttering, "This isn't happening, this isn't happening" Over and over to himself.

Vanila tried to stay calm but her bright pink eyes betrayed her by showing pure fear. Carbuncle turned his attention back to her, "Hey Ice cream, no wait that's not a catchy name, what's your name again?"

Vanila responded in a shaky voice, "My name is...Vanila"

Carbuncle pondered the name for a second before shrugging, "Nah, too boring. Oh, I remember eating an ice cream the other day that looked just like you, what was it called again? Neo something. Whatever, Neo will do fine. You hear that? I'll call you Neo." He said, looking back at her with an unhinged look in his eyes.

"Ok" Said Vanila, to terrified to protest her captor's strange antics.

Neo sighed upon seeing the shameful display before her, "Why on earth did I ever agree to be called that" she said to herself bitterly.

The group reached the lab door and Carbuncle opened it. The inside of the lab was brightly lit and was lined wall to wall with complex machinery and busy scientist. In the center of the room was a large device that looked like a cannon mounted above a flat platform.

An all too familiar voice echoed from up on the platform, "Babies, babies, please! Just give me more time! I got this!" it said.

A shiver ran down Neo's spine, "This monster again" She thought.

Vanila looked over to the source of the voice, and to her surprise, it was her favorite professor, Dr. Azure Cascade.

The Doctor seemed off to her though, his demeanor had changed from the wise and friendly one she had come to know and had been replace with a wild yet casual one, eerily similar to the one Carbuncle had.

"We can not afford to keep this dead-end project floating much longer Azure, we need results!" Yelled a voice. This time it came from a large monitor on the wall in front of Azure. Four similar ones were arranged next to it, each one had a blacked out figure of a person with no discernible features. This was not caused do to a distortion in the dream, Neo was sure of that, the people conversing with Azure clearly did not wish to be identified by anyone else.

Another person from a different monitor spoke up, "He is right my friend, every subject you have used has either died or...worse. This cannot go on much longer!"

Azure scoffed and grew angry, "Dr. S please! I thought a fellow scientist like you would understand the complexities of such a test!"

A very disinterested voice of a woman came from another monitor, "We don't need your excuses darling, we just want our super soldiers, and we want them soon. The grimm aren't going to wait around and drink tea while we train those snot nosed brats to be huntsmen!"

The voice of a polite male entered the conversation from another monitor, "I am terribly sorry for my companion's rudeness, but what she says is true. We can't rely on them, we truly need this to succeed if we are to successfully weather the storm to come" he said.

Azure groaned, "Listen buddy! Maybe this would have been easier if I had Fras with me, but you guys and that damned Ozpin went and 'Moved him to Menagerie' as they say in the business! So sorry if I have had trouble bringing this together with half the goddamn resources!"

"Enough!" Boomed a commanding yet feminine voice from the center monitor. The whole room went silent as everyone looked towards the monitors. "You will finish the experiment or you will be the first of many huntsmen to fall in the battles to come. Now, you said you would like to show us the next batch of subjects. Get on with it."

Azure sighed and began mumbling curse words under his breath. "Anything for the five most powerful people on the planet" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Azure turned to Vanila and the others and grabbed the hand of the faceless captive. "Let me go!" Yelled the kid as he tried to struggle. Azure overpowered him and quickly chained him to the platform.

"Professor what is the meaning of this!? What are you doing!?" Yelled a terrified Vanila.

Azure simply waved her off dismissively as he walked off towards a control panel just off the platform.

Another scientist walked over to the chained student with a syringe filled with a green liquid and knelt down next to him, "Get away from me! NO!" Yelled the scared kid as the scientist held him down and administered the shot to him. The boy screamed bloody murder as the liquid slowly seeped into his body.

The sound caused Topaz and Vanilla to cower in fear, both terrified of what was to come.

The scientist looked at Azure and spoke in a casual tone as if nothing had happened, "Phase one complete, you may proceed to phase two." He said.

Azure nodded happily as the man walked off the platform. "Everyone get ready, activating phase two!" he flipped a large switch and suddenly a large blast of blue electricity burst out from the cannon like nozzle above the platform and bathed the prisoner in a bright light. "Make it stop!" Yelled the prisoner, his body convulsing rapidly on top of the platform. His cries for help were quickly replaced with incoherent jumbles of sounds and soul shattering screams.

After a little under a minute of exposure to the lightning, Azure flipped the switch back and the flow of electricity stopped immediately. The prisoner shot up into a standing position and for a few seconds everything was deadly silent in the lab. Azure smiled giddily but quickly frowned once the boy collapsed to the ground and the green liquid that was injected into him began to seep out his nose, mouth, and ears.

Azure groaned, "Dead like the others, bring up the next one!" He yelled.

Before Vanila or Topaz could react to what was happening, Carbuncle began dragging Topaz up to the platform, "No! Get away from me, don't touch me!" She shrieked.

Vanila pleaded with Azure to stop but he ignored her and continued to fiddle with the control panel.

Within seconds Topaz was chained to the platform and the scientists had already injected her with the strange liquid. She began writhing on the platform just like the previous captive and continually cried out, "Please don't, I'll give you anything just please don't kill me."

Azure, clearly losing his patience, yelled at her, "Suck it up you brat, oh and FYI, this is a bit of payback for your constant bitching!" Azure flipped the switch and Topaz was immediately enveloped in the same sparkling blanket of electricity as the previous subject had been. Her screams were infinitely worse than the last kid, the high octave piercing cry she had let out was so powerful Vanila was surprised she didn't break all the glass in the room, nah, the city. Every second of her painful screams was dripping with levels of despair so great she could have raised an army of Grimm to battle all herself.

The sounds coming from her grew less and less human as the seconds dragged on. Her eyes rolled back into her skull and her skin began to sag. Green ooze began to fall from her nose, Vanila thought this meant she was dead just like the previous victim, but it was so much worse. The ooze kept pouring from every opening in her head and her skin began to grow and change color to a sickening greyish brown. Her whole body fell to the ground and contorted into a pulpy mass.

"There is no way in hell that thing is still alive!" Vanila thought in horror. But the creature remained animated, thrashing and pounding on the platform, it's human limbs now no longer discernible from the rest of its body. The beast looked like some form of abominable blend of human, bear, and slug that was straight out of a horror movie.

Azure sighed, "Stop the procedure, we don't need this thing bursting like a pimple and getting pus all over our equipment" He said coldly.

The machine stopped the flow of electricity and the monster stopped convulsing and began breathing deeply and slowly, as if it were out of breath. The thing was disgusting, the now fully mutated body of Topaz held no resemblance to its former form aside from bits of her clothing fused strongly to its back and side, as well as small stalks of her hair jetting out through its pulsating scalp. The whole body was slimy and oozing so much of the green substance out of every pour that it seemed to be naturally generating more of it at all times. But by far the worst thing was its eyes, the once Jade colored irises were, in a word, 'Shattered'. All the warped colors of the rainbow and then some were mixing and churning for dominance like a whirlpool of damned souls, all clawing for a brief glimpse at the world outside of their hellish prison, begging for any living thing in their line of sight to join them, which of course included Vanila.

At that moment time seemed to slow to a crawl, the most terrifying moment of little Vanilla's life had arrived. Azure waved his hand at Carbuncle who began dragging Vanila towards the platform. At the realization of what was going to happened to her, she began to kick and scream at the top of her lungs, begging for her professor to stop but to no avail. When she was dragged past him she grabbed onto his sleeve and pulled him closer, "Please, don't do this, you can't do this!" Vanila said in a tear filled hysteria.

Azure yelled in her face, "Get off me you little bitch." He said and slapped his student across the face.

Vanila came to a sad realization, no one was going to save her, she was doomed to end up just like Topaz, she looked mournfully towards the beast that had replaced her. The poor, confused, thing was being dragged off the platform by a group of scientists. It stared at Vanila, it's haunting, multi-colored eyes beckoning her, "Join us, join us" it seemed to say. At that moment Vanila gave up, maybe the stress of the situation had finally overridden any of her body's attempts at resisting. She went limp no longer struggling.

Carbuncle smiled at her, "Giving up eh? That's a good girl, your making our jobs so much easier Neo!" He said happily.

Carbuncle shackled her to the platform and stepped away. The scientist walked up to her to administer the shot of liquid. Once he injected it into her all her senses seemed to fail her except for sound and touch. Her sense of touch was flooded with excruciating pain that nearly made her blackout. "Proceed to phase two!" She heard someone say. Suddenly she felt like she was struck with lightning (Which she was) her blood began to literally boil and the liquid rushed through her body. The pain was unimaginable, worse than any of the nine circles of hell combined could possibly offer. The place the pain was most concentrated was her eyes, which felt like they were about to burst open.

Then something happened, something that pulled Vanila from the clutches of death and flung her towards the uncertain cuter she was in now. The lightning abruptly stopped and the machine began to smoke and nearly exploded.

"Damn it!" Yelled Azure.

Vanilla's sense of sight began to return to her as she lay on the cold platform. She looked up towards the monitors, Even with their faces obscured she could feel what their expressions were. They weren't looks of pity they were giving the poor girl, they were looks of disappointment. The commanding voice from the center monitor spoke, "I believe with that shameful display, we are done here, and so are you."

Azure began to panic, "No I swear I can fix this! It will work don't you see? I just need to find a way to stabilize it! Raven if you would just..."

Raven interjected, "SILENCE YOU INGRATE! You will shut down this failed project and wait for further instructions, is that clear Azure?"

Azure hesitated for a moment before muttering out an agreement. One of the other voices spoke up, "I am sorry my old friend, this is just the way things work out sometimes."

The disinterested female voice chimed in, ""Yes, yes, truly a waste of a good evening. Please clean up this mess will you darling? To think that I let you do this filthy little test in my kingdom! What was I thinking." The monitors turned off and the whole lab went silent for a few moments.

"THAT BITCH" yelled Azure as he began to rip the control panel to shreds. He looked at Vanila with anger in his eyes, "It's your fault isn't it!?" He pointed at his brother, "Remove her from my sight, throw her in some cell or something, we will find a use for her latter" he said.

Carbuncle sighed and picked up Vanilla's half dead body. After a few minutes of walking he came to a steel holding cell and threw Vanila into it. Before closing the door he looked her in the eyes and smiled, "Welcome to your new home little Neo" he said as he slammed the door.

Vanila, still racked with pain, pulled herself over towards a puddle of water that had leaked into the room. It was probably filthy but she didn't care, she need to drink something.

After gulping down a mouthful of the rancid water she spat it up and started breathing heavily. She gazed, mesmerized at her reflection in the puddle. It was at that moment where she came to a realization, it was not a miracle that she had survived the experiment. In fact, she wasn't even sure if she was still technically 'alive'. The beautiful pink eyes that she was once proud of were tarnished, one remained pink, but instead of the deep reddish pink she had, it was now a soulless light pink that was almost white. The other was now a disgusting brown color, putrid and tainted.

Whenever she blinked the colors switched eyes, like they weren't really there, not fully grounded in reality. In fact that was how she felt ever since that day, not fully there. It was almost like that instead of killing her the experiment seemed to simply unhinge her from reality, like her soul was permanently hanging in a sort of purgatory. Not feeling truly alive, truly human, but not quite able to drift off into the afterlife.

The girl began crying and her eyes turned completely grey in the process, an ugly deformed grey just like the color beast that Topaz became. She might have been spared the same fate as her, but she shared the same one as the faceless boy. That day Vanila died, and Neo was born in all her warped, sinful glory.

…

It had been three days since Yang had awoken in Mercury's cabin, she had regained her strength and all the soreness from her wound had vanished but left a nasty scar of her stomach. Once Yang had realized that she would be carrying it around for the rest of her life she simply remarked, "I guess me and Weiss will start a club now" to which Merc had snarky replied, "Maybe you will wear something that doesn't expose half your body now". Yang had glared at him for his comment but shrugged when she realized he was right, she hated it when he was right.

In fact, over the course of the past few day Yang had come to a conclusion about why she had felt so uneasy around Mercury, aside from the whole terrorism thing, it was because they had way too much in common. Yang analyzed every move the guy made and everything from his snarky attitude to his lack of manners mirrored Yang incredibly well. It had seemed Zwei had noticed it as well and had quickly taken a liking to Mercury, probably more than he liked Yang since he was a great chef and she couldn't boil water to save her life. Aside from Blake and Oobleck, Merc had become his favorite person, but unlike Zwei Yang still couldn't trust him, he was still such a mystery.

The few times they actually had a decent conversation he always dodged her questions. Yang knew that she had to leave for Haven soon so she was running out of time to learn the truth.

On the afternoon of the third day Yang was sitting at the kitchen table, petting Zwei. Merc was sitting on the beaten up couch tinkering with some type of gadget. It was fascinating watching him work, she had never learned much about engineering aside from what was necessary to be able to repair her Ember Celicas, so she could not fathom the complexity of the devices he made in his spare time. His hands moved lightning fast, as if they knew where to place what by instinct. He was completely dead to the world around him, fixated on the machinery in front of him. His eyes darted with every hand movement and a dull glow came from beneath his grey irises, which lead Yang to believe his talent with machinery was somehow linked to his semblance.

Yang decided that it was now or never, time to ask the million dollar question, "Mercury I need to ask you something, something important," Yang stated.

Mercury didn't look up, "Ok shoot."

"Why did you do what you did to Vale."

The second Yang finished her question Mercury's hands stopped mid motion, his eyes closed, the device he was putting together, suspended in a state of incompleteness. He sighed heavily before responding, "I did it because I had no other option," he said. Feeling that his answer was sufficient, and gladly ready to drop the sensitive topic, he opened his eyes resumed his work, slightly slower than before.

Yang wasn't satisfied though, "That is a vague answer, I need a better one" she said.

Merc rolled his eyes, "Somethings are a lot simpler than they appear" You would be surprised how powerful the allure of food, shelter, and associates who don't beat you daily is to a petty guy like me" he said.

Yang shook her head, slightly annoyed, "You and I both know it's not that simple-"

"How would you know?" Merc said coldly, his hands coming to a full stop once again, his eyes now trained on Yang with deep curiosity.

Yang looked away awkwardly, "You talk in your sleep, loudly" she said.

The faintest of blushes came across Merc's face for a brief moment before he looked away, "Oh" he said.

Yang began to get up, "You also cry, a lot"

Merc sighed, "Of course I do, like I needed a reason besides my hair for people to question my masculinity with" he said sarcastically.

Yang walked over to him and removed the burnt picture from her pocket and guiltily handed it to Merc, "I also found this" she said.

Merc took the picture in his hands and stared at it for a solid minute, his face holding a mixture of emotions that were impossible for Yang to decipher. She was never as good at reading people as Blake.

Merc sighed wearily and placed the picture in his pants' pocket, "This conversation is over" he said as he stood up to walk away, but Yang stopped him.

She stared him directly in the eyes and spoke, "You can't keep dodging my questions. Two of my friends died that night and I lost my arm, I have a right to know why you did what you did!"

Merc looked away from her fiery eyes and stared at the stump that was where her arm should have been. He sighed and walked over towards the window sill and looked glumly outside, "Damnit" he muttered to himself.

Merc thought long and hard about how to word his answer, eventually he decided to responded with a question of his own, "Where did you live?" he asked.

Yang was perplexed by his question but answered nonetheless, "Patch, it's an island off the coast of Vale.

There was a slight pause before Merc continued, "So you know what it is like living on the edge of a grimm's gaze, living in constant fear of those abominations" he said.

Another pause, Yang responded, "Yes, but my island was a lot better protected than most other settlements outside of the kingdoms, and both my parents were huntsmen so I was probably just as well off as most city people" she said.

Merc continued his questions, "So you were raised by a huntsmen like me, I suppose that means you were always told the stories of their heroism and selflessness in their battles against the grimm? You trust in them unconditionally?" He said with a somewhat bitter tone.

Yang responded quickly, getting really annoyed by Merc's continued avoidance of the initial question, "Of course."

Merc let out a barely audible chuckle, "Well let me tell you about a little piece of that story that they always seem to leave out. Once upon a time there was a huntsmen I knew, his name was Fras, a scientist extraordinaire! He lived here in secrecy with his two daughters Sienna and Coral." Merc took the picture out of his pocket and held it up, "I believe you have gotten acquainted with them already" he said with harsh sarcasm.

Yang was getting tired of Merc's attitude, "Just get to the point already!' She yelled.

Merc looked back at her slightly amused, "Fine fine, now where was I? I came across them after I ran away from my father. Fras told me that he had made a living doing something that few huntsmen ever had the balls to do, study the grimm."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop quickly and a shiver went down Yang's spine. The topic of studying the creatures of grimm was easily the most dangerous job on the planet and was always something their professors danced uneasily around when talking about the duties of a huntsman.

Merc noticed Yang's sudden change in demeanor but continued on, "Fras founded his own small group of equally passionate huntsmen and huntresses. You would have never heard of him, all his work was top secret. He was a genius, unparalleled by any in his field or any other, he made discovery after discovery about the grimm's behavior and ways to more effectively combat them and defend villages. If his work was completed then humanity could have used it to turn the tides in the war on grimm just like our ancestors did during the 'Advent of Dust'.

Merc paused and shook his head, "But he found something in his research, a single disturbing fact that would have turned the world on its head."

Yang looked at him curiously, "What did he find."

Merc continued, "After countless trials and simulations with live grimm he discovered that they were a natural impossibility, every aspect of their nonsensical biology and behavior was against anything nature or evolution could have possibly intended. It could only have meant one thing…"

Merc looked back at Yang and did not break eye contact, "The grimm were man-made."

The whole cabin went dead silent after that, and the already low temperature seemed to plummet even further.

Yang's mind was going a thousand miles a minute, "That's not possible!" She thought, "There is no way that could be true, he had to be lying, he was just a terrorist trying to worm his way out of blame, he was lying! He just had to be lying!"

Yang tried to yell at Mercury but she was at a loss for words, "I...that's...I"

Merc chuckled darkly, "After he found that out, the headmasters were quick to shut down his research, couldn't let that detail out could they? Ruin their perfect little propaganda fairy tale wouldn't it? And to make sure the secret wouldn't get out they destroyed all traces of his research so nobody could pick it up again." He chuckled again, "And as for all the scientists that knew, for their hard work and dedication they all got an all expenses paid, one way trip to Menagerie if you know what I mean. Fras was the only loose end. When the hitmen came for him he grabbed his family and ran like hell, they lost them and made it here where they hid, him and his daughters made it to safety, his wife...did not."

Merc turned from the window sill and faced Yang directly, "I'm not going to act like I know everything, There is obviously more to this than I know, but one thing is for sure, the grimm are our fault, and your precious little huntsmen refuse to accept that, even if it means destroying research that could help them keep people safe."

With that, Yang had finally snapped out of her daze and got angry, "You're lying! There is no way in hell that's true! Ozpin, the huntsmen, they protect us and I won't have you smear their names!"

For the first time since she met him, Merc got anger, "Oh sure, go ask them if you want to know! I'm sure there is at least a dozen perfectly reasonable lies that they can tell you to make this all go away! Or maybe they would just kill you for asking, after all you're just a crippled drop in the ocean of mindless drones they raise at their academies! They couldn't give a shit if you died!"

The cabin went silent once again before Merc finally broke eye contact with Yang, "I'm sorry, I went to far" he said guiltily.

Yang sighed, exhausted from their conversation, "You still haven't answered my question. Why did you do it?"

Merc picked up the device he was creating on and slowly began working on it again, as soon as he started all the anger and stress that filled him seemed to melt away and he was back to his casual self, "After a while Fras was visited by a woman, her name was Raven."

Yang felt her muscles tighten, "Oh god, mom has something to do with this to!?" She thought in a panic. She let her muscles relax, she needed to get answers out of Merc now after getting so close, she would have to bring up that conversation latter.

Merc continued, "Raven asked him to help her, something involving a project he had worked on before his grimm research made him public enemy number one. She said if he didn't help her she would kill his whole family, he told me to take Sienna and Coral and run as far away from here as possible while he sacrificed himself to Raven's blade. We ran but didn't get very far, Raven had hired my father to back her up and he kicked my ass."

Merc shook his head, "My dad took me home, didn't last though, when I woke up the first thing I did was try and kill him, That time I succeeded."

He sat down, "That's when Cinder and Emerald found me and asked for my help, at first I refused, I needed to get back to see if Sienna and Coral were ok." He paused, "I don't need to tell you that part, you saw the town."

"After that I accepted their job." A click came from the device in his hands and he stopped to look at it, "Perfect" he said quietly to himself. He looked back at Yang who was surprisingly waiting patiently for him to finish his story.

He motioned her to follow him and he began walking towards the closet off to the side of the cabin, "After all I had seen, after all I lost, I couldn't just do nothing. I figured, that if the huntsmen kept where they were, and refused to accept what was right in front of them, nothing would ever change. Villages like this one would be gone like the wind, food for the grimm. The only way to make them act would be to force their hand, and what better way than to bring those nightmares to their doorstep?" He said bluntly, "If they think they could hide in their perfect little cities, with their flawless heros, and close their eyes real hard and hope the REAL world and the TRUTH would just go away, then I needed to shatter that illusion."

Yang spoke up, "There had to have been a better way, you could have thought of a solution that didn't require so much bloodshed!" She protested.

Merc knelt down and opened the closet and began rummaging through the clutter, "Sometimes there are no peaceful solutions, sometimes you need to break a bone so it can be reset correctly. Now where is that box?" He said absently.

Yang went silent, she didn't want to admit it but his logic made sense, infact, if Yang had discovered that secret, and went through stuff like that, she would have probably come to the same conclusion.

"No, no, that's not right" she thought.

Yang raised her voice and let out the emotions she had pent up, "That doesn't excuse what you did! You caused so much pain! So much suffering! I lost my arm dammit! Do you know what it's like to lose something so crucial!"

"YES I DO!" Mercury shouted, stopping his rummaging to look her in the eyes, "Yes I do."

Mercury extended his leg on the floor and slowly rolled up his pant leg. Yang's remaining hand covered her mouth as she gasped. "These were a present from my dad, he broke both by legs in one of his drunken fits and instead of taking me to the hospital he thought it was the perfect time to try out his new toys, 'They would make me a better huntsman' he said."

Yang was once again at a loss for words, the thought that a father would do something like that to his son was hard for her to comprehend.

Merc sighed once again and returned to the closet where he found and picked up a box, "I doubt anything I have said has swayed you to see things my way, after all actions speak louder than words." He stood up and held the box out for Yang to see, "So please open this, maybe it will convince you where my words have failed to. Just remember even if I did nothing but scummy things to reach my goal, I only have good intentions" he said.

After only a moment of brief hesitation, Yang removed the lid of the box, "Oh my god" she said in disbelief.

Inside the box was a partially complete robotic arm that shined like a new car. Yang looked at Him, completely awestruck, "You made this?!"

Merc smiled proudly, "You would be surprised by what a bored teenager with a knack for machines, spare parts, and something to prove can do when he can't sleep. Now go on you can hold it."

Yang carefully took the arm in her hand and inspected it, it was no heavier than her normal arm and was cool and smooth to the touch. There was a few pieces missing that kept it from bending but the rest was flawless. There was even what looked like a new Ember Celica mounted on the hand."

"That retracts into a built in wrist band, and it's almost done, I was just working on the last important piece." He shook the small contraption he was working on.

Yang smiled and held back a tear of joy, "Thank you, Mercury, I think I was wrong about you."

Merc laughed bashfully, "I knew I should have bribed you from the start, that always works with you woman."

Yang scowled, "Nope, nevermind, you're still a jackass" she said and the two burst out laughing, the tension of their previous conversation having completely vanished.


	13. Chapter 11: New Promises

It was nearing midnight before the Ruby's group finally set up camp on a hill overlooking the gates to the Mystral capital. And at the far edge of the city, at the edge of their gaze, was their long dreamed of destination, Haven Academy. "We are so close! Why are we stopping?" Asked Jaune angrily.

He looked back at his team and his face softened, Ren was panting and sweating like a dog after walking a long way with the still unconscious on his back. Nora, who had awoken about an hour ago, was staring at Maginhild with nothing but utter disappointment etched into her face, her pride was going to take a long time to recover. Ruby was faring better than the others but still looked like she was about to drop from exhaustion, even so she still managed to shoot Jaune an icy glare that told him to be nice.

Jaune sighed, "I'm sorry for pushing you guys. We will rest here, I'll set up the tent." His teammates all exhaled a sigh of relief as they all fell backwards onto their backs in exhaustion, except for Ren who carefully set Neo down on a pile of leaves before collapsing.

"That was hands down the most stressful day of this trip" said Ruby.

"Thanks a lot, captain obvious" said Nora, her voice laced with a weak attempt at sarcasm The group sat in silence enjoying their rest after their near death experience earlier they were in no rush to jump back into the fray. Jaune toiled with the tent as he quickly set it up, hoping to join his teammates on the ground as quickly as possible.

Nora moved herself next to Ren and tried to smile at him. Maybe it was because Nora was forcing it, or maybe because their encounter with the assassin shook him greatly, whatever the reason, Ren did not smile back and instead glumly looked away from her. Nora sighed and let go of her fake smile and looked sadly at the unconscious Neo. She was clutching her fist so tight her knuckles were pale white and her whole body was shaking. Those symptoms normally meant one thing, she was having a nightmare, something that the rest of the group knew all too well. Not sure if waking her would be a good idea, Nora gently stroked Neo's dirty multi-colored hair, ready to smother her with as much love and comfort as she could muster when she woke up.

Ruby stared curiously at Ren, he was averting his eyes from everyone and staying as quiet as possible, which yes, that was his "Thing" but it was different this time. Normally his silence accompanied by an aura of ease and comfort, like he didn't speak because he felt that that he didn't need to, so serene, so calm, something that Ruby had always envied about him, it was so frustrating being unable to control your energy sometimes. This time however, there was no such peace, his silence was now one of fear, it was as if he was trying to shrink away into the background, hoping he could vanish without a trace and no one would ever find him again, he was hiding from something.

Ruby decide to confront him, "Ren, who was that guy you fought in the forest, do you know him?" She said bluntly.

Jaune and Nora stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards Ren. Ren looked around at them pleadingly before letting out a heavy sigh, "His name is Cyan and he is a professional assassin, don't know anything else about him" he said, hoping his bare bones information would satisfy his teammates' curiosity, he should have known better.

"Ren" Jaune said, "I maybe stupid but come on, it's a little insulting that you think we would believe that" he said.

For the second time in a week Ren did the unthinkable, he got angry, "It's the truth, I don't know anything else! I just read an article about him online one time, there is nothing else to it!"

Jaune sighed, "Ren!"

Ren clenched his fists, "I'm telling you I-"

It was now Jaune's turn to get angry, "Dammit Ren, if you know something about the psychopath that is trying to get our teammates killed then you need to tell us! That's an order!"

Everyone went silent again, Ruby was beginning to hate silence. Jaune sighed again and lowered his voice, "Please, I don't want to risk losing another friend" he said.

Ren looked at his leader for a minute then finally gave in, "Fine, I do know more, he said that he was hired to kill Ruby and all her followers so he must have been hired by Cinder or her superior. Also he is my-" Ren hesitated, "My father"

The word father seemed to permeate through the air after he spoke it and as it hung there, like a severed limb, it began to rot and stink as it decayed and permeated an atmosphere of doubt and confusion, "Oh" was all Ruby was able to say, dumbfounded by the new information.

Jaune and Nora seemed to have a silent conversation as they stared at each other, both at a loss for words.

Nora was the first one to speak up, "How did you know? We grew up in the same orphanage! You told me you were like the rest of us. That you didn't know your parents."

"I lied" said Ren sadly.

Nora seemed deeply hurt by this revelation and refused to look Ren in the eyes, her face an indecipherable mess of anger, confusion, sadness, and empathy.

Ren continued his debriefing of their attacker, "Like I said he is an expert assassin, 'Best in the Business' he always said. One night he got drunk at a bar, got grabby with a waitress, and I was the result, a bastard through and through" he chuckled disheartenedly. "When I was three my mom died of a disease that swept our village, once my dad found out about my existence he came back and tried to train me to be an assassin." He took out his dual pistols, "I never planned on following him in his footsteps but he taught me his fighting style and I've just sort of adapted it into my own," he explained.

"So that's why your tech and style are so anti-human oriented" Said Ruby quietly and absent mindedly, Jaune heard her and shot her a 'Be quiet' glare which caused her to blush in embarrassment.

Ren continued, "When I was about six I had had enough of living with him, and while he was out on a job a ran away, eventually ended up in a orphanage on the Vale-Vacuo border, that's where I met Nora and Vanila."

Nora shook her head, "That doesn't makes you sense. We went arrived at the orphanage together! We spent all our time together! Even before we got their!"

Nora stared at Ren who was trying his hardest to avoid eye contact, " _He is still leaving something else out! What is he hiding_?" Before Nora could press him any further, Neo woke up.

Her eyes shot wide open and she burst to her feet, taking out her blade. She started yelling "GET BACK YOU SICK BASTARDS! I'LL RIP YOUR ENTRAILS OUT AND STRANGLE YOU WITH THEM!" She waved her sword around in all directions, causing Nora and Ren to jump backwards several feet. Ren drew his weapon on instinct and Nora had to grab him before he attacked her.

NEO CHILL THE HELL OUT," shouted Jaune, whom she'd almost impaled, "We're safe, just put away the sword, and calm, down."

Neo snapped out of her delirious rage and slowly lowered her sword and put it back into her umbrella before collapsing to the ground. Ruby walked over to Neo and squatted down in front of her, "Neo, is everything okay?"

Neo shut her eyes and sighed, "Yeah, just a bad dream," she said, exhausted, "Where are we?"

The group looked at the Mystralian skyline,"We are just outside the capital, whatever you did, it got us a hell of a lot closer than we were" said Nora, her cheery attitude having to returned somewhat.

Neo rubbed her temples, "I teleported you guys away from those two assassins, we should be safe."

There was silence for a few moment until Ruby broke it, "Jaune, do you mind continuing to pitch the tent? Ren? Do you mind starting dinner?"

Jaune nodded and grabbed the tent like their argument had never happened. Ren smiled and eagerly took their food supplies to a nearby clearing to start a fire, all the while pretending to not notice Nora who was burning a hole into the back of his head with her eyes.

She and Ruby sat down next to Neo and wrapped a blanket around Her. Neo sat glumly on the ground and stared off into space looking completely depressed. It wasn't long before tears began to roll down her pale cheeks. Nora wrapped a gentle arm around her, "Neo? Is something wrong?" Ruby began lightly patting Neo on the back and looked at her worriedly.

Neo began full-out sobbing as she leaned on Nora's shoulder. The tears were a mix of trauma over having to re-live her awful experience and joy over being able to save the only people who cared about her other than Roman. Neo looked up at her two companions with tears in her eyes as Ruby continued to rub her back rubbed her back. She had an almost motherly smile, and caring eyes that made Neo feel safe. Neo just continued to cry as the two enclosed her in a group hug.

…

After a little over an hour Neo had drained herself of tears she sat with her head resting on Nora's shoulder, content to not say a word. The sun was quickly sinking behind the horizon and the cold embrace of the night began to creep into view. Jaune had finished setting up the tent and was currently playing a game of poker with Ruby, and losing spectacularly. " _Where the hell did a girl like her learn to play poker?"_ She thought, but immediately felt like a hypocrite when she remember that the first thing Roman had taught her when he recruited her was how to gamble.

"Dinner's ready, and it's stew!" Saidan excited Renas he carried a pot over to the group. Instead of her normal enthusiasm at getting the chance to eat, Nora accepted Ren's dish without any outward display of emotion. This worried Neo, Nora had told her about the new information that Ren had told them about their assailant and she didn't know how to feel about it. For orphans like them, parents were always a touchy subject but this seemed to be on an entirely new level, Neo found the news surprising but after all the crap she had to deal with over the years she wasn't to fazed by it, "That is a bad sign right?" She thought. Nora didn't seem to be taking it quite as well as she had but that was understandable, when she was at the orphanage Nora and Ren had been inseparable, they were probably even more so after she had left, so learning that Ren had been hiding something like that all this time clearly cut deep for her.

Ren handed Neo a steamy bowl of brown liquid with chunks of meat and vegetables. She gleefully accepted and began to eat vigorously, not realizing how hungry she was. Ruby and Nora comforted her the whole time.

After Neo finished her stew they just sat in silence around the fire for a short while, the others occasionally shooting quick looks in Ren's direction. After sitting in silence for about twenty minutes, Neo finally spoke up, "So, you asked about my past a while ago didn't you?"

Ruby jolted up, as she was on the verge of falling asleep, "Huh? Oh, yeah we did," she said, yawning.

Neo sighed, silently promising to herself to keep the tears in this time, "When I was at school, I got picked on a lot, teased, beat up, pretty much anything people don't want to happen to them."

Already Nora started to get protective of her and began muttering something about breaking legs under her breath.

"There was one professor however, he seemed to care quite a bit about me, but I was very wrong. One day, I was fighting in an alleyway with one of the bullies when a strange man attacked us. He was one of the men I teleported us away from actually, but he took us all to a strange facility where-" Neo's hand shot to her mouth as she almost threw up thinking about what happened to Topaz.

Nora squeezed Neo's hand harder and Ruby began rubbing her back some more, "Urgh, sorry."

Said Neo.

"Don't be" Said Jaune, him and Ren having gotten closer to her and the others.

Neo continued "The facility they did, well, they experimented on us. They did unspeakable things to us. Some of us died and others...changed…" Neo pointed to her unsettling yet beautiful multi-colored eyes, "That's where I got this and my anger management issues. The worst part is, the teacher who I thought cared about me was their leader. I'm the only one that survived,"

Neo looked up, The group just stared at her, mouths partial agape as they processed what they had just heard. Neo attempted to keep the story going as to avoid the awkward silence, "After the experiment failed to do to me, whatever it was suppose to do, the project's heads pulled the funding and shut it down. My teacher often took his anger about the failure out on me, said It was all my fault, that the equipment malfunctioned or that they were on the verge of perfection and I had gotten in their way. They never would have killed me though, I was to be their lab rat for the rest of my life."

Neo sighed, "But fate had different plans, Roman and his gang attempted to rob the facility, 'Trying to score some military tech to sell on the black market' he had told me. They would no useful tech but he stumbled across me and took pity on me. I escaped with him and never looked back. I heard that the facility was closed permanently soon after and the two brothers in charge, Azure and Carbuncle Cascade, had been arrested for crimes against humanity." Neo chuckled, "Probably by their bosses to cover up their tracks, wouldn't want something that bad getting out to the public. After that I figured if whoever started that project wanted to find me, the orphanage was the first place to look so I steered clear of it and followed Roman's operation to Vale and the rest is history."

Once Neo had finished everyone was still staring at her slack jawed until Nora pulled her into a suffocating bear hug. The group just sat their for a few minutes, letting Neo's story sink in.

"Do you have any idea who their boss was?" Asked Jaune finally.

"Jaune!" Yelled Nora angrily.

"No it's ok" said Neo. She looked at Jaune and told her what she could remember, "When they were performing the experiment there were five people watching the thing on monitors. Their faces were obscured but I think they were the leader. Three were men, One was really formal and sickeningly polite, another was very Business like and the other treated Azure like an old friend, the other two were women, one acted kind of ditzy and said something about Vacuo being 'her kingdom' the last one was very intimidating and I think her name was Raven, Azure had called them the 'Five Most Powerful People on the Planet.'

The group once more returned to empty silence before Ruby spoke up, "I think I have heard the name Raven before but I can't remember where, but the most powerful people on the planet? That is a bold thing to say, who could they be talking about?" Ruby looked at the ground a concentrated hard.

Jaune sighed and looked at Ruby, "Ruby, I have a guess but I don't think you will like it"

Ruby looked up at him and her face fell as she seemed to come to the same conclusion Jaune had, "No!" She yelled, disturbing the birds that had nested in the trees around them, "Jaune, I love crackpot conspiracy theories as much as the next teen but come on there is no way they…"

"It makes perfect sense" Said Ren abruptly, everyone looked towards him.

Ruby let out a nervous laugh, "Ren be serious-"

"There are few people who can claim to be that powerful-"

"This is ridiculous! Think about who you're accusing here!"

"Ruby!" Yelled Jaune and everything went still for a second.

Ren leaned forward, "It has to be the Headmasters, or at least one of them"

Ruby began stumbling over her words to find a solid rebuttals but failed miserably.

Nora spoke up, "I have heard that Vacuo's headmaster, Edna, is kind of a ditz, and that she is so rich she practically owns Vacuo."

Jaune nodded, "And I have heard that Haven's headmaster, Jacob, is quite the gentleman, shit." Jaune ran his fingers through his golden hair, "If those two were involved with something like this, and if Azure and Carbuncle are after us for the reasons they say they are then-"

Ren nodded, "That means the chances of Jacob and Edna having ties to Cinder are VERY high."

Everyone looked at Ruby to see how she would respond, she seemed to have given up protesting the idea and was looking down at her shoes, She spoke up in a very submissive and beaten manner, as if she desperately wanted what she was saying to be some crazy fantasy, "That would explain how Cinder's team was able to slip into Beacon with the Haven exchange students. Also with Vale in shambles and Atlas backed into the corner, Vacuo and Mistral's power has skyrocketed, Cinder spreads chaos and these guys profit. I hate to admit it but it does make sense."

Neo came to a sudden realization, "If Azure and Cinder are working towards the same goal then that means-"

Neo began to shake and a tear ran down her cheek. Nora noticed and tenderly wiped it away, "What's wrong?" She asked.

Everyone looked towards Neo and she spoke, "Cinder convinced me to help her plan for two reasons, one because if we didn't help she would kill us, two that in doing so I would get my revenge on those five, that they were so powerful they would be untouchable unless I tore down the whole goddamn kingdom that protected them." She sniffled, "But the if she was lying to me, and she was working with them all along-" More tears started to run down her cheeks and she started to laugh, "Then I guess I never really escaped them. Ha, Ha, Azure was right! He really did find another use for me!" Neo's hysterical laughter quickly turned to saddened sobs as she buried her head into Nora's shoulder as a flood of tears came pouring out.

For the next few minutes all that was heard was the depressing sons of an emotionally broken girl, Ruby had actually found a sound she loathed more than silence, crying.

Ruby patted Neo on the back and spoke in the most reassuring voice her scared, confused, body could manage, "Neo, I promise we will bring you and Justice"

Neo stopped and looked at her, just as everyone else did, "What do you, hic, mean?" She asked, her face stained with hot tears.

Ruby took out her weapon in its compact form and held it out to Neo while she got down on one leg like a knight, "I make to you the same promise I made too Penny, too Phyraa, and too everyone else who died at the festival, I promise I will bring the people who wronged you to justice, I will make them pay for what they did. And if-" she hesitated for a moment, "-And if the headmasters are responsible, then they will meet my blade all the same" she finished with fiery determination boiling in her molten silver eyes.

The camp went silent once again, only to be broken by a round of applause from Ren and Jaune. Neo smiled warmly, her face going red from embarrassment, "Thank you Ruby, you don't know how much that means to me" she said.

Nora smiled wider and brighter than she had all day and locked Ruby in a playful noogie, "You got it! That's the type of action I'm looking for! Don't worry Vanila! We are gonna make sure those meanie never gets his hands on you again! Now let me in Haven! I have a few rockets with their headmaster's name on them!" Shouted Nora through a fit of laughter.

Jaune shook his head, "Careful Nora, we shouldn't go in their guns blazing, besides I think we have our hands full right now tracking down a magic psycho terrorist, can't we save the corrupt hero for next week?" The whole group let out a hearty laugh that scared away any trace of the lonely silence that had previously permeated the camp.

Neo smiled and looked up at the stars above, " _I think I'm finally ready to move on Roman, I think I finally have a family"_ She thought with a huge smile plastered on her face.

…

Blake had gone up to the top deck of the ship to get some air. As to be excepted with winter weather it was incredibly cold but Blake was thankful for it. It seemed to sober her, keep her grounded in reality. She leaned over the railing and looked out at the the lights of the Mistralian capital blinking in the distance behind a wall of fog and mist.

"You ok?" said a voice. Blake turned around to see Weiss walking towards her, an uneasy smile across her face.

Blake gave her an equally shaky smile, "Yeah just need some air."

Weiss leaned up against the railing and looked out at the horizon, the breeze whipping back her hair, "How long do you think till Azure catches up to us?" she asked absent mindedly.

Blake cracked a weak smile, "In all honesty I'm excepting him to come riding in on a frozen wave, singing a love song any second."

The two friends chuckled at the thought.

"What is Ciel doing?" Blake asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

Weiss sighed, "She's been rummaging through Azure's computer, it would probably be best to give her some space, the things she is finding...let's just say her already low opinion of her father is dropping by the minute" she said.

The two stood there in awkward silence before Weiss spoke again, "She also found evidence of the Schnee company giving generous funding to his more dubious experiments" Weiss' smile turned into a scowl, "She didn't find any connection to project LEIGON but...I wouldn't be surprised if he was involved, seems like the type of screwed up stuff he would be apart of."

Blake was surprised at the heiress' willingness to accuse her family, "Do you think him and Sol will actually make a deal with those guys?"

Weiss contemplated the question for a minute, "They don't have us held hostage so they lost a lot of leverage, but according to him their going to save them from the white Fang, that's probably enough." Weiss chuckled darkly, "The Schnne dust company, The greatest military engineer, and the group who took down Beacon. An alliance between those three could topple any government. That's a business decision my dad would jump at that chance, he's always been obsessed with power."

Blake could sense the guilt in her teammate's voice, as if she blamed herself for what was happening, "I don't blame you Weiss, whatever your company does, you are not to blame!"

Weiss tried to force a smile but failed, "Tell that to my father, he is always going on about how, 'My actions reflect the company!' but it goes both ways! He violates people's rights and destroys lives on a daily basis! Eventually that's all going to fall on my shoulders!" She clutched the railing of the boat and grit her teeth. "Always carrying on about his 'legacy' or 'image' and he goes and does stuff like that! I'm sick of it!" She rubbed her temples and exhaled deeply.

Blake tried to comfort her, "I guess that's one thing we have in common, Adam is always taking about 'equality' and 'proving ourselves' then commits back to back terrorist attacks!" Hypocrites! All of them hypocrites!" Blake sighed in frustration, "What's the old saying again? 'You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villian?'"

There was yet another silence afterwards but Weiss quickly, and suprisingly, cracked another smile and turned to Blake, a strange new passion having been kindled in her eyes, "But that why we're here right? We have a chance to make it better. If Azure's plan succeds then both my father and The White Fang are our enemies. If that happens then we have no choice but to beat some sense into them and steer them back in the right direction! We are the only ones who can!"

Blake was taken aback by Weiss' crazy idea, " _It's ludicrous!_ " She thought, but the only thing she was able to do was laugh, "Is that you Ruby? What are you doing here and what have you done with Weiss?" She said between giggles.

Weiss got angry, "What is that suppose to mean? I am nothing like that little dunce!" She said defiantly, but her posture and the blush on her face showed that she took it as a compliment.

Blake finally stopped laughing and began considering her proposal, _"It's stupid and crazy_!" She thought. _"A single Fanus and a Schnne heir, teaming up to save the world and fix a century of hate? Now that's a story even Ruby would call bullshit on!"_ Even so Blake knew what Weiss was saying was true, _"They had to fix it, there was simply no other option"_

Blake held out her hand and spoke in a playful tone, "Well then Miss Schnne, would you care to help me save the world?"

Weiss smiled, "But of course" she said as she shook Blake's hand.

Afterwards the two broke into a small fit of laughter, something neither had been able to do in a long, long, time.

...

It was midday by the time Mercury had put together the last of Yang's new arm. They were in the room Yang had woken up in days earlier, she was lying comfortably on the bed but was unable to relax in anticipation. Merc was sitting on a chair next to the bed, holding his new finished creation in his hands, inspecting it from every angle to try and spot any imperfections.

"Is it done?" Yang asked.

Merc smiled mischievously and spoke In a voice that was dripping in sarcasm as always, "No, this is just the rough draft prototype. I have a couple dozen more models I need to make before I make the real one. Then I have to paint it but I will probably just break it anyway just to spite you, you were being a bitch earlier and, hey!"

Yang punched him hard in the shoulder and he began rubbing it dramatically, "Ah, bitch" he said.

"Takes one to know one" said Yang smugly.

Merc rolled his eyes, "Forget it, my comic genius is lost on you."

Zwei barked in an attempt to inject himself into the conversation. Merc looked at the little corgie who was sitting in the corner of the room, "Don't you try and crack a joke, you suck at it, besides-" Merc turned back to Yang, "Your owner killed the mood already."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Oh grow a pair, let's just get this over with."

Merc's expression darkened, "You know that attaching this arm will hurt like hell right?"

Yang looked at her stump, Merc had already attached a metal ring around the tip to interface the the metal arm with her nerves, a process Merc could only described as, "Fun".

Yang took a deep breath, "You know that I would never turn back right?"

Merc hesitated for a second and chuckled, "God damn you're stubborn as a mule"

Yang smiled, "Takes one to know one"

Merc laughed again but quickly went straight back to being serious, he took out a clean cloth from a box next to him and handed it to her, "Put this in your mouth, you don't want to grind your teeth, replacements for those are not my expertise."

Yang grabbed the cloth and stuffed it in her mouth.

Merc attached the arm to the connector on her body and looked her in the eyes, their faces only a foot apart, "I'm going to flip the switch now, the arm is going to interface with your nerves, are you ready?"

Yang rested her head on her pillow and closed her eyes, she was so peaceful looking Merc thought for a second she was asleep, "Do it" she said.

Merc nodded, "Connecting nerves in three, two-" Merc flipped the switch early, hoping the surprise would help the pain.

Yang cried out in pain for a few seconds before getting ahold of herself, every muscle in her body seemed to tighten and twitch and Merc could have sworn he heard her mumble "Son of a bitch" through the cloth in her mouth, Merc REALLY hoped Yang wasn't referring to him.

Zwei barked repeatedly, very worried about his master's health.

Merc looked at the Corgie in annoyance, "Don't backseat Doctor me dog!" Zwei went silent and Merc turned back to Yang and whispered in her ear, "Your strong, you can do this" he said.

She was in too much pain to hear him but it was the thought that counted, " _At least I hope she couldn't hear me_." He thought, " _She would never let me live that down if she did."_


	14. Chapter 12: Welcome to Haven

**Hey guys, after this there will be only one more chapter for Volume 4, then afterwards I will be taking a little break from this fic. Also I went back and edited a few things on the WOR: White Fang, so read it again if you want to get the updated info but it should be negligible. Hope you enjoy the upcoming climax of Volume 4!**

The capital was a surprisingly rustic looking city, very few buildings reached anywhere near the heights of the ones scattered across Vale's capital. Most of the city seemed to be in a uniform mixture of grey and black, fitting given the city had been known for its coal mining, and later dust mining, but not very helpful given the current warlike atmosphere.

Ruby looked around at the crowds of people scurrying to their work places. The city's' famously safe and clean working environments in the mines was always a magnet for poor fanus families all over the world, making it the city with the largest Fanus population in all of Remnant. However Ruby could count on one hand the number of Fanus she could see in the crowds, there should have been far more, "Are they afraid? Is even Mistral not safe for them anymore?" Ruby shrugged and kept moving, they had a job to do.

The city was built into a crevice of a mountain, with mines and passages spreading underneath it like a labyrinth. Each of the city's four sections were set up on different plateaus in an escalating order. The lowest plateau housed the port that ferried the resources taken from the mines to all corners of the world while also bringing in refugees in enmass (Most of them Fanus). The second one, where Ruby and the others were now, was the working district, where the middle and lower class lived and worked the more labor intensive jobs. It was a life not for the faint of heart but then again neither was any village in all of Remnant.

The third level of the city was the upper class city, glistening with a rainbow of colors from sun yellow to neon pink, all trying to be as bright as possible to liven up the otherwise dreary look of the city. Outside the upper city walls was a massive, " _No Fanus allowed sign"_ written in bold red. "Those letters were very faded last time I was here, They must have repainted them after what happened with the White Fang" mumbled Neo.

Ruby looked over her shoulder to talk to the girl, "If they are so tight with security, then how do Fanus students get through? The Academy is through there." She said.

"They have to carry around a badge and show it to the guards outside, then head straight to the academy transports" She said.

Ruby scowled, "That's terrible! I can't belive Sun never told us that they made him do that!" Ruby looked over at team JNR for confirmation but was surprised by their silence.

They were staring solemnly at the bright skyline of the fancy mansions in the upper city, their faces hard as stone, with anxiety etched into every corner of it.

Ruby realised why they were so quiet, that was where Phyraa lived, that was where her family lived, completely ignorant to their prodigy daughter's demise, it was where the four of them would have to break the terrible news.

Ruby gulped and tried to find anything else to focus on, her eyes settled on the fourth level of the city, Haven academy. The campus was roughly the size of Beacon but instead of a sleek modern style, the school seemed to have opted for a beautiful and imposing building with such jaw dropping gothic architecture that made it look like an old Cathedral. There was something ominous yet inspiring about the ghostly building. It was the only one like it in the whole world. During the great war, The Mantle Supremacy had decided that this type of architecture was to expressive, to uncontrollable, and had to be destroyed. The decision to make the academy like that seemed like a type of pay back to the fallen dictator ship, as if to say, _"No matter how many times you break me, I will come back!"_ A type of resolve that Ruby admired.

"Young lady, I cannot let one of your kind into the upper city without an identification badge." Said a voice coming from the gate.

Another, more angry, voice responded, "I don't have time for your racism, we have to get to the school now!"

Ruby froze, _"I know that voice, that's-"_ She frantically scanned the area around them till she laid her eyes on two girls, both in heavy winter clothing that Ruby had never seen but she was still able to recognize the two easily. Her partner's proper gait and Snow White hair, and her Fanus friend with her onyx locks and ebony bow.

Weiss glanced over at them and made eye-contact with Ruby, her jaw dropped in disbelief and she tapped Blake on the shoulder.

Ruby was so overcome with happiness that she broke into a teary eyed sprint straight towards her teammates, "WEISS! BLAKE!" She yelled.

"Wait what?" Said a confused Blake as she turned towards the screaming girl, her teammate tackling her and Weiss with a bear hug before she could react.

Jaune, Ren, and Nora all came running after Ruby to find her laughing and crying into the arms of her disoriented teammates, while another girl sighed and facepalmed.

Not wanting to cause a fight, Neo hid behind Ren and Nora as to not be seen by Ruby's teammates.

Once Jaune had finished prying an overly happy Ruby off of Weiss and Blake, he helped them to their feet. "Th-thank you" Said Weiss, still in partial shock from seeing her friends again after so long.

"Now let me get a hug in to!" Yelled Nora as she attempted to tackle Weiss and Blake to the ground as well.

"Hold on Nora" said Ren as he restrained her, earning an uncharacteristically dirty glare from her.

Ruby hugged her long lost friends once again, "What are you two doing here!" She squealed in excitement. She looked at Weiss, "I thought your dad took you back to Atlas and-" she turned to Blake in wide eyed wonder, "-And you, disappeared."

Blake suddenly felt like she wanted to run again, but Ruby pulled her back into another hug, "I was so worried, Yang was too." The name of her partner hit Blake like a ton of bricks, the partner she abandoned, the partner she failed. The mere thought of Yang, and what her own naivety about Adam did to her, was enough to nearly bring her to tears.

"Eh hem, This is all well and good but I do believe we were in the middle of reaching our destination." Said a slightly annoyed voice.

For the first time Ruby noticed her friends' uptight, fedora wearing companion, "Ciel!? What are you doing here?" Said Ruby, pleasantly surprised that Penny's former teammate had survived their ordeal in Vale.

Ciel sighed, "I could ask you and your group the same question, but we are on a schedule, we need to get to Haven stat!" She said in a frustrated tone.

Nora rolled her eyes and muttered, "And I thought Ren and Jaune were killjoys."

"I heard that!" Said Ciel indignantly.

The man in front of the gate sighed and rubbed his temples, "Whoever you people are you need to leave." He shot Blake an annoyed glare, "I also suggest you take that bow off miss, that disguise will never fool a border guard. No Fanus allowed without clearance from Haven!"

Once Blake and the guard resumed their verbal sparring, Neo came up with a plan and poked Ruby in the arm. She turned around and whispered to her, "What is it Neo?"

Neo leaned in and whispered her plan into Ruby's ear. After hearing the whole thing, Ruby considered it for a moment then nodded, "I'll stand between you and Weiss, we don't want her attacking you when she sees you." Ruby did as she said and stood next to Weiss.

"Ok Neo, remember what Roman taught you about smooth talking." She thought. Neo took a deep breath and stepped out of her hiding place and smiled, "There you are Blake, I told you not to get ahead of your escort." She said.

Blake turned around, "What?" She said. Her eyes went wide when she realized who it was and she reached for her weapon, but team JNPR shot her a look telling her to stop. She looked at Weiss, who was just as ready to pounce on Neo as she was, but was being held back by Ruby. Ciel looked confused, which was understandable since she never met her, so instead of doing anything she simply stood back and waited curiously for what Neo would do.

Not sure what Neo was up to, she decided to play along, "There you are, I was worried I'd lost you!" She said with a smile.

Neo walked up next to her and whispered in her ear, "I'll explain later, just follow my lead" she looked at the man with a happy smile.

"Terribly sorry for my friend's behavior, what seems to be the problem?"

The guard immediately changed his tune and spoke politely, "Ma'am, your friend here just tried to sneak into the upper city."

Neo gasped and turned to Blake, "Why I never! Blake you know that you can't go there without me!" She gently tapped Blake on the head with her umbrella, "Honestly I don't know what I'll do with you."

Blake's ears fell to the side and she looked down at her feet, "Sorry, it won't happen again" she said in the most convincing tone she could manage.

Neo smiled, "Apology accepted darling, now onto the next order of Business" she turned to the guard, "My friend here is not a student at Haven, but she has information about the White Fang's activities in this area. I must deliver her to the staff immediately!"

The guard hesitated then shook his head, "I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't-"

Neo rolled her eyes but continued to speak politely, "Please sir, in these trying times the huntsmen need all the information they can get on those terrorists. Here-" Neo took out her student ID from when she was posing as a student here, "I'm a student at Haven, allow me to escort her there myself. Besides-" Neo turned the handle of her umbrella and lifted it slightly to show part of her blade, "-I'm a trained fighter, if she tries to hurt anyone I'll make her regret it."

Blake felt a shiver go down her spine but was relieved when the guard let them pass, "Just be careful" he said, and just like that, they were inside the walls of the upper city.

Once they were out of sight of the guards, Weiss and Blake turned to face Neo, "Explain" they said in unison.

Neo looked back at her friends for reassurance, Ren sighed and stepped forward, "How much time you got?"

Sun lay on his bed staring at the the round badge in his hand. It was made of stainless steel and had the words, Haven Academy written on the top with the carving of a dog below it.

...

Sun grimaced at the patronizing piece of metal, _"A dog, how fitting that they would compare us to a domesticated animal, good way to remind us that they own us"_ Thoughts like this had plagued Sun's mind since he got the accursed thing a year ago, he was able to stomach it then because they were so lax about enforcing it, but now thanks to the catastrophe that was The Vytal Festival, he had to flash it every time he had to go anywhere. _"Just stay calm and cool Sun, just keep training, then you can kill those White Fang bastards and find Blake."_ Sun's heart sank at the thought of his crush, he had been planning to ask her out on a date after the Festival was over but that plan fell through and plummeted into the depths of Tartarus along with any sanity the world had. Sun sighed and closed his eyes now Blake was missing, her past mistakes had caught up to her and now she was running for her life and her friends; just another one of the countless fanus lives ripped apart by those egotistical monsters.

His thoughts then wandered to what he learned when he had returned to Haven, his friends that hadn't come with him to Beacon, Team KMSN (Crimson) an all Fanus team. Sun scowled once again, their leader, Kuro Neko, was an old friend of his from his time living on the streets as a pickpocket. His family had connections to the White Fang so the school thought he was a big enough danger to warrant kicking him and his entire team out of the school.

"You ok Sun?" Asked Sage. Sun opened his eyes and turned to see his teammates staring at him, concern in their eyes. Sage had stopped beating on his punching bag in the corner, Something he had been doing mercilessly since they got back to Haven. Neptune and Scarlet were sitting on one of the other beds and in the middle of playing a game of _"Million Dollars But…"_ Scarlet was looking between Sage and Sun awkwardly, his natural obliviousness most likely having kept him from noticing Sun's demeanor. Neptune looked at Sun with sympathique eyes, he knew what was bothering Sun, he to was worried about the well being off his own crush, Weiss Schnne, who was currently locked up tight in Atlas by her father.

Sun yawned and stretched as he sat up, "Fine, how are you doing on this lovely day Sage?" He said with as much cheeriness as he could manage.

Sage rolled his eyes, "Sun, you and I both know that's total Bullshit, so just talk to us!"

"Yeah chap! You've been acting wonky all day!" Said Scarlet.

"He is just on edge with all this waiting around" Said neptune in a tired voice.

Sun got angry at his friend's comment and jumped to his feet, "Of course I am!" Blake is out there, putting her life in danger to try and fix this mess and I'm just sitting here on my ass waiting for the next big tragedy!"

Neptune sighed and rubbed his temples, "I'm pissed too but remember, we are just students, we can't just-"

"Of course we can! We did when we helped RWBY out when tracking down Torchwich, we are too involved in this to just wait it out!"

Neptune stood up in frustration, "How many times have you said that? And how many times have I told you that headmaster Jacob is probably on his way back from Vacuo as we speak to deliver good news. Just you watch."

Sun groaned, "What if he doesn't!? I don't trust him after the scummy thing he did to KMSN! Besides, the Huntsmen have been a shattered mess since the Festival! They can't fix this! We have to do it ourselves!"

Sun grabbed his weapon and started looking around for his backpack.

Neptune groaned and leaned back on his bed, "Not this again, I have too much of a headache to deal with this right now" he said.

Sage and Scarlet looked at each other awkwardly, neither of them had gotten to know team RWBY or JNPR that well during their semester stay at Beacon but they knew just how inseparable from them Neptune and Sun had become.

Sun and Neptune kept bickering back and forth like an old married couple for a few more minutes, Sun quickly became flustered and his face was getting redder by the second, "Ugh, Here comes Rage Quit mode" Thought his team; but before Sun could explode there was a knock at the door. Everyone stopped talking and they all turned to the door. Scarlet decided to be the one to answer it, he wasn't about to let Sun scream at whoever it was for interrupting their little spat. Scarlet opened to door a crack and had to a double take when he saw the group standing in the hall "Well Dog's bollocks" Said Scarlet in surprise.

"Well who is it?" said Sun as we walked over to the door, "Let me see" He pulled the door open and his jaw dropped when he saw teams RWBY and JNPR, as well as two other girls he didn't recognize, standing right there in the threshold of their room.

They all stood in awkward silence for a second before Jaune finally spoke up, "Uh, is this, a um, bad time?"

...

After Jaune had broken the silence the group happily poured into team SSSN's room, an infectious happiness spread throughout them all and the tension of the past few months seemed to have vanished for all of them. Sun and Neptune were ecstatic to see their friends safe and sound. Neptune and Weiss awkwardly hugged as they said hello, they were relieved to see each other unharmed but it was clear that what had happened the past few months had strained the fledgling relationship that they were still new to. Sun on the other hand nearly tackled Blake to the ground with excitement and after getting the wind knocked out of her she happily reciprocated the hug.

After introducing the boys to Ciel and Neo, they spent the rest of the afternoon happily telling their friends about the adventure and a half that they had survived to arrive at Haven. The two groups that had made the journey separately were also grateful for the chance to tell their full stories to each other, since they were only able to give them bare bone summaries earlier. Ciel listened earnestly when Ruby began retelling the run in with Carbuncle, and shocked the room when she told them that she had know the man from her father's work; but no revelation was as shocking as when Ruby had informed them all about Ren's father.

When Ciel told the group about what they found about project LEIGON she decided it would be best for moral if she had not showed anyone else the pictures, she was worried it would cause Neo a PTSD flashback.

With all the stories told, and the sun having gone down, Ruby left the group behind and sat on a bench in the Haven courtyard and looked up at the stars.

"I wish you were here mom" She whispered to herself, "I've made it this far but, I'm so scared, I don't know what to do, what if...what if the headmasters are corrupt? What will I do then?"

Like always she was met with a her least favorite sound in the world, silence. "Should have guessed you didn't know the answer." Ruby laughed weakly, after so long she had forgotten what her mother's voice even sounded like, it was even becoming harder to remember her face. The memoires of her perfect super mom were fading away, but the memories of The Vytal Festival, those were not going anywhere.

Ruby sighed and let her smile fade into a frown. Silence like this left Ruby alone with her thoughts, she hated her thoughts, they always contradicted her. The bubbly happy exterior she always flaunted to everyone was impossible to keep together when her thoughts took over.

In truth Ruby often wondered if anyone had ever know what she felt like inside. Probably Yang, she went through the same thing she had, and at times Ruby felt like Yang knew that her happiness was a facade. There had only been a few times in her memory when she had smiled genuinely. The feeling of emptiness had alway been there, she tried to ignore it, smother it with her dreams, kindness, rainbows, and other happy things, but it was always there; nagging at the fringes of her mind.

The thought of death always been at the center. The first solid memory Ruby had was of her mom's funeral, the oldest images in her mind had been Yang's tears, her mom's casket, and the depression etched into her father's face, unable to look her in the eyes of or nearly year. _"That's my fault, why did I have to look so much like her"_ she always thought.

It always seemed as if her life revolved around death, her mother's death ended any chance she had at a stable childhood, her first victory over the bad guys was watching Roman be devoured by a grimm, her failures to save both Penny and Phyraa.

It seemed as if the world noticed that she was finally learning to be truly happy again and decided to destroy it all for kicks, and the emptiness inside her seemed to only keep growing and growing with each passing tragedy. Every smile seemed harder than the last. Her happy shell to cope with the world was dissolving, taking bits of Ruby's sanity with her.

The day she woke up and learned that she had failed everyone was the day that irreversibly cracked it. That following month was the worst of her life, she could barely eat or sleep to the point where she felt like she was hallucinating; all she did was stare at her Crescent Rose, the emotion's from the void in her soul beckoning to her like a voice that was oddly comforting.

 _"You failed...so pitiable...you made your weapon so strong but you were to weak to save them...you poor thing...you miss them all, you wish you could see them one last time...you must be so tired...yes tired but can't get to sleep...poor thing...you spent so much time making your weapon and now it sits and collects dust...poor thing so tired...maybe...it could help you sleep."_

Ruby slapped herself, _"NO! You promised you would never think about that ever again!"_ She thought. She felt a sharp pain on her right arm and she rolled up her sleeve and saw it. A shallow, half inch scar, close to her wrist.

Her aura would have normally healed it by now but she wouldn't allow it. She had to keep it as a reminder, a reminder that for a brief moment she let those thoughts get the better of her, a reminder that no matter what enemy she faced, the biggest threats to her life would always be her own thoughts and her own blade.

"Hey Ruby, whatcha doing out here?" Said Sun casually.

Ruby quickly concealed the scar and once again donned her mask of smiles, grateful for the reprieve from silence, she answered, "Just needed some air, I'll be coming back in a minute"

Sun smiled and leaned up against the lamppost next to her, Weiss and Blake standing next to him, "I still can't believe you're all here!" He said while his smile widened.

Weiss chuckled, "Yeah, it's like a dream, Ruby, Blake, Jaune, and Neptune, I thought I would never see you guys again."

Ruby chuckled, "Speaking of which, are you and Neptune gonna try to be a thing again?"

Weiss shifted uncomfortably, "I don't think so, we didn't even get a chance to go on a date before all hell broke loose. I just don't see a way we can have a relationship with everything going on."

Ruby shrugged, "C'est la vie" she said and everyone laughed.

Ruby turned to Blake and Sun and gave them a mischievous smile, "What about you Blake? Has the Eclipse ship sunk yet? Or is it still sea worthy?" She said playfully.

Blake rolled her eyes and sighed, making Sun slightly worried, "I-I guess, but I have a lot on my mind, I can't get distracted" she said bluntly.

"Oh" Sun looked away awkwardly, his tail slowly wagging between his legs like a dog betrayed him and broadcasted his disappointment to all three girls.

Ruby inspected Blake's face, "Aside from maybe Jaune, she was easily the most exhausted out of all of them, bags under her eyes suggested that that she was suffering from sleep deprivation just like Ruby. There was something else though, something heavier weighing her down. Ruby recognized it, it was the same look her father and uncle gave her whenever she mentioned her mother, guilt.

"Blake, Yang doesn't blame you" she said.

Blake was taken aback by the statement but quickly shook her head, "I find that hard to believe" she said.

"But it's true! She never blamed you at all!"

Blake started getting irritated, "That, that, that just makes it worse!" She said, a bit louder then she probably should have."

Weiss and Sun made eye contact and nodded, they began to slowly shuffle away from them to give space for the inevitably messy argument.

"Blake please-"

Blake interrupted, "No, it's my fault! If I had been stronger I would have beaten Adam! If I hadn't left for Beacon I could have stopped him! If I hadn't run away I might have been able to convince him to leave Beacon alone. But instead I ran like a coward and got her sucked into this!"

Ruby sighed, "Then why did you run again!?"

"Adam plans to destroy everything I ever cared about! I had to stay away from her or he would come back! I'm just a catastrophe waiting to happen, A ticking time bomb that will get everyone I ever loved killed, a Black Hole that just sucks the life out of everything around it! I didn't run away because I was scared of her blame! I ran away because I was scared I would hurt her again!"

Ruby stood up and stared her down, anger seeping out through her molten silver eyes. Before Blake could react she slapped her across the face.

"Okay, that's enough!" Said Sun as he and Weiss ran back to the two girls.

Blake looked at Ruby in shock, "Why did you-"

Ruby held out her hand to stop her then spoke in a calm tone, "You really don't get it do you? You DID hurt her! Do you have any idea how depressed she became when she learned you ran!" Ruby felt a single hot tear stream down her cheek. "You were her partner, her best friend! Yang was never angry at you for what Adam did, but she IS PISSED at you for leaving! She almost never got out of bed, almost never ate, she would just stare out the window all day! No fire, no passion, when you ran away you hurt her more than Adam ever could!"

Then there it was, the sound Ruby was afraid of, silence. Weiss and Sun just stood there looking back and forth anxiously between their two friends.

Blake's words failed her, her jaw was hitting the floor and tears began to silently trickle down her eyelids. "I-I I'm so" she dropped to her knees and began crying in full force.

Ruby kneeled down and embraced her in a warm hug, "It's ok, I forgive you, and if you stop running, Yang will forgive you too, she has to, you're too important to her."

A tear went down Weiss' cheek as well as she kneeled down to join in the group hug.

Sun, took a few steps back and stood in awkward silence as he waited for his friends to finish with their heart to heart, "A-A-ACHOOO" Sun let out a violent sneeze and began to shiver all over.

"Way to ruin the moment Sun" said Ruby sarcastically.

Sun laughed but continued to shiver violently, "Sorry but, d-did it just get really cold all of a sudden?"

The three girls stood up and immediately began shivering, the temperature seemed to have plummeted in the last few minutes to the point where they could see their breaths.

Blake reached for her weapon and locked eyes with Ruby, "Something's very wrong" she said.

...

"Reese, Weiss, Scarlet" said Neptune.

Scarlet groaned, "Why do you always put me in there?"

Neptune chuckled, "It's fun, Now Nora what do you say?"

Nora thought hard for a full minute before coming up with an answer, "Fuck Weiss, mary Reese, kill Scarlet."

Scarlet through his hands in the air, "What the bollocks? Aren't you straight?" He said.

Nora looked at him in awe, "Your a guy!?"

Neptune and Sun began laughing heartily while Scarlet muttered a colorful vocabulary of swears under his breath.

The atmosphere in the room was relaxed and playful, it was the first true night of joy any of them had in a long, long time. Ren, Sage, Jaune, and Neo were all playing a game of _"Remnant Conquest"_ and were staying fairly quiet; While Nora, Scarlet, and Neptune were currently in the middle of an arousing game of "Fuck, Marry, Kill"

"Where did Sun screw off to?" Asked Scarlet.

"He went for a walk with Blake and Weiss to search for Ruby" Said Nora.

Sage smirked, "Alone with two girls eh? Better hope Sun doesn't steal Weiss out from under you."

Neptune and Jaune gave each other a look and burst out laughing, "Don't worry he won't, she is an impenetrable fortress. Sun would be in way over his head" said Neptune.

"Ditto" joked Jaune.

"Ok, on to the next round" Neptune scanned the room and laid eyes on the only girl that didn't seem to be enjoying herself, "Ciel, who would you Fuck, marry, kill? Jaune, Flynt, Ren."

The girl didn't even look up from her laptop when she answered, "Marry Weiss, kill Flynt, fuck Ren"

The room went silent in surprise which forced her to look up, "I dated Flynt once, not a smart decision" she said before taking a sip of her tea and returning her attention to her laptop.

Neptune looked around the room for the next person to thrust into the spotlight. His eyes settled on the mysterious girl with multicolored eyes that was apparently a former criminal, "Neo was it? You've been way to quiet this evening it's your, turn now! Nora, Ren, me."

Neptune gave her his most charming smile, showing the perfect white that he was so proud of. Neo rolled her eyes, she was never really fond of flirty guys like him, "Marry Nora, fuck Ren, kill you" she said.

Scarlet and Sage started laughing as Neptune looked down in disappointment, "Burnt by two chicks in one day, I can feel my pride aching" He thought.

Neo and the others were chuckling along with Sage and Scarlet as Jaune said, "Better watch out Ren, the ladies want you bad tonight" Ren blushed and chuckled awkwardly. Nora blushed too but and frowned, "Wow, is she still upset about Ren's secret? I never expected that grudge to last more than a few hours, this could be bad" Jaune thought worriedly.

The laughing subsided and Ciel cleared her throat, "This has been fun"

"You had fun? And here I thought you were Weiss' twin sister" said Neptune jokingly, which earned him a few dirty looks.

"Ok, ok, that was not my best joke" he said sheepishly.

"If you're anything like Mercury then we will probably hear many more tasteless jokes before the night is through" she said.

Neptune shot her a glare, "Well aren't you hostile" he said sarcastically.

Ciel spoke up, "Enough banter, guys, this is important."

She closed her laptop and took out several sheets of notes she had been working on and started arranging them on the table in front of her, "I've dug through all the useful information I could get to on that computer and I've narrowed down our possible 'Five most powerful people' as Neo put it."

Neo smiled, "Thank you for your help" she said.

Ciel cracked a surprisingly genuine smile, "Don't mention it, after you explained your experience with my godfather's experiments I couldn't just sit by and not do anything."

She finished arranging the papers on the table and beckoned everyone to look at them, "Our biggest suspects are Jacob Cemalt and Edna Crimson, the headmasters of here and Shade." She pointed to pictures of the two.

Neptune took a deep breath, "You do realize you're accusing our headmaster right? The guy who's been training us this whole time right? You don't honestly expect us to believe you right?"

Nora gave him a stink eye, "You mean you don't?"

Sage and Scarlet looked around at the group awkwardly before sage spoke up, "That's kindof a hard pill to swallow."

Neptune nodded, "Yeah, and if you guys act on this hunch of yours, regardless of whether your right or wrong your going to make one hell of an enemy, Jacob is so terrifyingly strong he could probably kill us all with a flick of his wrist."

Ciel shook her head, "I get it, you're not fully convinced, you don't have to be." She turned her attention to the other stacks of notes, "It's plausible that Ironwood and Ozpin are behind this but I just don't know."

Jaune chimed in, "I seriously doubt Ozpin is in on this"

Sage nodded his head, "He always was quite the humanitarian"

Ciel continued, "My remaining suspects include Mr. Abori Schnne and My father Dr. Sol Soleil."

Everyone looked at her in surprise, "You really suspect your own father?"

She nodded, "In fact, I'd be shocked if he wasn't involved. I always knew he operated in a moral grey area, I mean just look at-" She paused for a second, "-At Penny. I don't want to think he would be involved in something like this but after what Azure said about recruiting him I think he might be responsible."

She picked up the last pile of notes, "Mr. Schnne is a greedy man, no one denies that, It honestly wouldn't shock me if he did contribute to this, as long as these hypothesized super soldiers protect his assets he probably wouldn't bat an eye at the death toll, I ran this idea by Weiss earlier and she agrees."

Neptune whistled to signal that he was impressed, "I'll be damned, when this Azure guys said powerful people, he really meant it, if these guys joined forces they could move mountains!"

Ciel chuckled, "I'm afraid they may want to move more than just mountains. But as for Raven, I can't find anything about her, she seems to be a mystery."

They all took a moment to silently contemplate their information but suddenly a whizzing sound was heard and a metal ball hit the floor. Ren looked at it and his eyes widened, "Everyone scatter!" He yelled.

At that moment all hell broke loose, the ball exploded and flung everyone in different directions. Ren was the only one who was able to land on his feet, he drew his weapons just in time to intercept an attack from Cyan as he leapt through the window. They clashed a few times before Cyan gained the upper hand and kicked Ren square in the chest, sending him careening into a wall.

Neptune leapt to his feet and extended his Spear and slashed at Cyan. He dodged the boy with ease and kicked him in the back at full force which sent him toppling out the window. "NEPTUNE!" Yelled an angered Sage who charged at the agile attacker. Suddenly a second attacker leapt through the window and landed a powerful blow against Sage, knocking him over.

Jaune and Nora got to their feet and joined in the fray but were suddenly wrapped around in what appeared to be chains and were tossed around like rag dolls. Once the chains retracted Neo saw the assailant's face, "Emerald!" She said in disbelief.

Emerald looked over at her former ally with pity, "Been awhile Neo, sorry about this."

Sage had leapt back up to his feet and attempted to grab Emerald from behind but she was too quick. She rapped her chai blades around Sage and spun him around in a circle and flung him out the window, he landed with a crunch and the sound of Neptune whining "God dammit your heavy Sage."

"Guys are you ok!?" Yelled a disoriented Scarlet.

Jaune staggered back to his feet and started yelling battle commands, "Scarlet, go get Neptune and Sage, you guys find Sun and Team RWBY, we will need all the help we can get!"

Scarlet nodded and began sprinting down the hall away from their attackers.

Cyan smirked, "Retreating eh? That's not the most interesting survival tactic."

"Fuck you!" Yelled an aggravated Ren who was rising to his feet.

Ciel and Neo rushed over to their friends side, they outnumbered them 5-2, they could win this.

Emerald chuckled, "Have to say, I'm looking forward to getting back at you for knocking me out back in Atlas, say your prayers."

Ciel spoke with as much venom in her voice as she could muster, "You really think you can stop all of us? You do realize that reinforcements are just around the corner right?"

Cyan laughed, "Oh you don't know how right you are"

The was a loud explosion from the courtyard and the group all looked over to see its origin. Neo froze, "No" she whispered. From the window the group could see a massive shard of ice dust impaled into the ground and flashes from gun shots that they assumed were Ruby and the others.

Before they could say anything the pay heard a voice coming from down the hall, "Yep, we really needed to pull out all the stops tonight, can't let you guys roam free after getting your hands on sensitive information, you know how it is?"

From the shadows Scarlet's unconscious body was thrown haphazardly in front of them. They heard a click and saw the light of a cigarette begin to glow from the darkness.

Carbuncle stepped forward and exhaled a puff of smoke, "it's just good business, right ice cream?"


	15. Chapter 13: No Turning Back, part 1

**A/N: Ok so upon writing this finally to the story arc I realized that it was WAY to long for a single chapter so I'm going to split it into two parts and release the second part tomarrow. Hope you enjoy! Also I will soon be renaming this fic to "RWBY: The Path We Walk" so try not to get confused if you get updates with a different name than normal.**

Neo stood there, completely paralyzed by the situation at hand. Her and her new found friends were cornered by three dangerous criminals with their chances of survival dropping by the second. Carbuncle drew his baton-gun and got into a battle stance.

"Ren, Bullet Storm, now!" Yelled Jaune.

Ren nodded and leapt up onto Jaune's shield.

"Get down!" Yelled Nora as she tackled Ciel and Neo.

Jaune thruster Ren Into the air with his shield. The nimble huntsman in training used the momentum of his ascent to spin into a corkscrew mid air. Pulling the triggers of his guns he caused a rainfall of bullets in all directions, forcing their attackers to scatter.

Nora leapt back to her feet and swung her hammer with all her strength at Carbunkle. The Mercenary dodged her swing and struck her across the back of her head, sending her toppling to the ground.

"Nora!" Yelled Ren as he dashed to her side, only to be intercepted by his father.

Neo helped Ciel to her feet, "I guess now's as good a time as any" Ciel muttered. She grabbed the edge of her wristwatch and turned it counter clockwise. All of a sudden a blade of pure yellow aura shot out from the watch like a claw, and coated most of Ciel's arm.

She leapt forward to strike Cyan but Emerald's chain blades suddenly wrapped around her arm, pulling her backwards.

Neo unsheathed her umbrella sword and lunged an attack towards Emerald but the green haired rouge paired the strike and tossed Ciel towards Neo like a projectile. On instinct Neo opened her umbrella and held it in front of her. Ciel noticed this and angled her body so her feet connected with the top of the umbrella. Having avoided a disastrous landing, Ciel used the opportunity to launch forward for another attack at Emerald.

The trickster smiled and dodged the attack once again then locked eyes with Ciel, _"No"_ Neo thought. It was to late, Emerald's semblance had already taken affect and Ciel was now dodging and rolling away from Emerald, most likely trying to avoid an attack that wasn't there.

 _"We are screwed if Emerald's illusions keep us from fight properly"_ Neo thought. She clutched the hilt of her sword, she knew that she would have to take her down as fast as possible if they were going to survive this fight.

Without thinking anything through, she charged at Emerald and grabbed her, "What?" She yelled in surprise. Neo leaned backwards to pull the rouge off balance and sent the two of them tumbling out the window.

"Dammit, why!?" Yelled Neptune as Neo and Emerald's bodies collided with his, sending him crashing into the ground once again, "And I just got up to!" He mutter weakly. Sage, who hand already recovered from his fall from the window, grabbed the disoriented Emerald and pinned her face first against the side of the building.

"Sorry" said Neo as she pulled Neptune to his feet.

"Don't mention it" Neptune muttered as he stood up, using his spear to support himself.

Emerald was violently thrashing against her captor and was on the verge of breaking free from his grip, "Cover her eyes! She can't use her semblance without eyesight" Neo yelled.

Neptune quickly attempted to cover Emerald's eyes but she was able to cast an illusion on him before he could. Neptune began to panic and flail his arms around in every direction, "WATER! WATER EVERYWHERE! I CAN'T SWIM!" He yelled.

 _"Is this guy really this Pathetic?"_ Thought Neo.

With Neptune distracting him, Sage's grip loosened, allowing Emerald to break free and elbow him in the gut, "Urggg" Sage wheezed, as he fell backwards, landing on top Neptune once again. Before Neo could react, she was once again wrapped up by Emerald's chain blades and sent flying away into a tree halfway across the yard.

She staggered back to her feet and looked around for her attacker. Emerald began charging forward at her, both her pistol's firing at full blast.

Neo braced herself and teleported away with her semblance, only to be tackled to the ground again by Emerald, "I'm sorry it had to come to this" she said, actually sounding sincere.

She extended her weapon into its blade form and looked down at her sorrowfully, "I really am."

She brought her blade down on her, who spontaneously shattered into a million pieces.

"Like hell you are!" Yelled an enraged Neo who materialized behind her and kicked her in the back of the head.

Emerald grunted then spun her blades around to hit the ice cream haired girl but she was to nimble. Neo ducked under her attack and uppercutted her and unleashed a flurry of punches into Emerald's groin.

Her blades retracted into their gun form again and she began shooting her at point blank range. Neo, being the agile fighter that she was, back-flipped her way out of harm's way and when on stray bullet finally hit her she activated her semblance yet again and teleported directly above her.

She then brought the handle of her umbrella down hard on Emerald's skull, causing her to collapse to her knees in pain.

Emerald grabbed Neo by the shoulder and attempted to pin her back to the ground but small girl used her momentum to send them rolling across the pavement, the two girls pulling each other's hair, punching and kicking any part of the other's body. If it wasn't for their clear intention to kill each other, they would have looked like school girls that had gotten into a cat fight.

The girls eventually pushed each other away, causing Neo to nearly fall off the side of the cliff.

She looked down at the city below and was shocked at what she saw. Several dozen mansions in the upper district was set ablaze in a raging inferno that threatened to consume the whole section of the city if it wasn't stopped. There was utter chaos in the streets as Huntsmen ordered people to safety as they tried to find a way to put out the flames.

"It was Carbuncle's idea to set that fire, Azure also set another fire at the weapon's storage here at Haven" said Emerald glumly. As if to confirm her statement, the sound of several explosions from the other side of Campus rang out. "The huntsmen are currently busy dealing with those to notice us, so the chances of our fight being interrupted are non-existent" she said.

Neo looked at her former ally, her face was a mixture of disdain, sorrow, and countless other complicated emotions, "Why are you doing this Em?" she asked.

Emerald sighed, "That's not really a question Cinder likes to be asked."

Neo felt her anger bubbling, "Screw what she says! I can tell you don't want any part of this, why are you still on her side!?"

Emerald scoffed at her, "Same reason you joined up with that thug Torchwick without a second thought, she took me in when the world abandoned me."

Her comment hit home with Neo as it was intended. She had never cared who she hurt when she was running with Roman, as long as he never lied to her, as long as he took care of her, she would remain fiercely loyal to him no matter what.

Neo shook her head, "No! You're not like that anymore! You have Nora and Ren, you have your family back! You have the names of those behind project LEIGON, you can stop them, you can bring them to justice, you have a purpose now!"

She rose to her feet and stared determinedly at her adversary, "You don't have to do that anymore Emerald! Join us, we can set this right, we can make up for what we have done. You can have the family you always wanted if you just helped us!"

For a brief moment Emerald hesitated, "Could she be right? is leaving still an option?" Before she could come to a conclusion, a massive explosion brought her back to reality. Emerald and Neo looked on in awe as they saw a large pillar of Ice rise from the other side of the courtyard.

She was speechless, "That ice, that's Azure's isn't it? How could he be so powerful!?"

Emerald sighed, "We opened up the floodgates Neo." Neo looked at her perplexedly. Em continued, "Azure, Cyan, Carbuncle, they are so strong, but they are nothing compared to what Cinder is capable of now. Her allies, her boss, they hold more power then you could possibly imagine. These three are just the vanguard of her army. Even if by some chance you beat them you guys are hopelessly out matched. You're David fighting Goliath without any rock to save you!"

She looked at her with a pained expression, "We put her on the path to victory and she already has the huntsmen in checkmate. Cinder WILL win." She tossed her hands into the air and let out a defeated, strained laughed, "We opened the floodgates Neo! Now get to the life rafts because they're filling up fast!" She said with fear etched into her expression. "Our only hope for survival is to gain her favor, I have it, and I intend to keep it!"

Neo looked down at the Umbrella in her hands, the one item that she held onto for all these years. She stared at her reflection in the shiny hilt, her ever conflicting eye colors haunting her like they always did, "No more, I can't run away again" she thought.

"I'm sorry Em, but I'm done being the bad guy's puppet" she said sternly.

The lifelong thief sighed, "Then once again, I am sorry" she drew her blade to attack but was blindsided by a blast of blue light that hit her square in the shoulder and sent her smashing into the pavement.

She jumped back in surprise and looked at the blast's origin to see none other than Neptune standing several feet away. Hunched over, clutching his stomach but still holding his weapon out in gun form with a dorky smile on his face, "Impressed yet?" He asked, prompting a laugh from Neo.

Emerald however was far from impressed and leapt to her feet to kill him. Neo saw this and once again tackled her to the ground. She hooked the handle of her Umbrella onto part of Emerald's clothing and flung her into the air, skidding across the cement as she landed.

All three now tired from the fight, Emerald pulled out her semblance one last time on both of them. Neptune suddenly began to flail around yelling water again, and Neo froze.

The illusion standing before her was none other then one of her beloved rogue of a father figure, "Roman" she said in disbelief. Roman raised his cane and smiled his normal smug smile. He was about to say something but she refused to hear it, "No! You're dead! I have a real family now, and they are more important to me than you!" She thought.

She broke into a sprint and stepped right through the illusion, shattering it instantly. "WHAT!" Yelled Emerald in disbelief. Neo tackled her to the ground and before Emerald could fight back she brought the metal handle of her Umbrella down on her over and over again in rapid succession till one shattered her aura, leaving a large bruise on her face. She was about to bring the hilt down again to kill her but stopped.

She rose to her feet and stepped away, "Why didn't you kill me?" Muttered the barely conscious Emerald.

Before answering, she gazed out over the courtyard in front of her, Sage running to help Neptune remain standing, flashes and gunshots coming from the hallway where their fight began, and the newly erected ice pillar where Azure and Ruby were fighting; lightning now spewing from somewhere on top of the structure and a blazing inferno sprawling at its base.

Neo sighed and smiled, "Because I want you to live long enough for us to prove you wrong."

...

"Vanila! Yelled Nora as her long lost friend tumbled out the window with Emerald in tow. She ran to grab her but was kicked in the gut by a laughing Carbuncle, "Hey, hey, eyes on your enemy dumbass!" He said with an amused laugh.

Ren broke away from his struggle with his father and lunged at Carbuncle.

The mercenary was not expecting this and took a large hit from his blade's, "Son of a bitch!" Yelled Carbuncle angrily, as he spun around and smacked Ren in the face with his baton, causing him to fall over.

"You can say that again" remarked Cyan darkly.

Ciel and Jaune both stood on the edges of the battle, unsure of how best to intervene.

Suddenly there was a large explosion near the courtyard, Carbuncle looked over his shoulder and sighed, "Guess things are getting pretty crazy near big brother, probably should go help." He broke into a sprint down the hallway and yelled backwards, "Cyan, take care of these rejects, I'm going to join the fun outside!"

The assassin laughed laughed, "You do that, I'll be there to back you up shortly" he said. Cyan drew a sheath of bullets from his cloak at lightning speed and within a second his guns were reloaded.

Ren leapt to his feet, "You guys go after him, I'll hold Cyan off!"

Nora's face fell, "No Ren! I'm not going to abandon you!" She yelled, despite the lies he had told her, she still wished to protect him with every fiber of her being.

Ren smiled, "I'll be all right, when have I ever-" Ren stopped himself and sighed, "Jaune, go help Ruby and the others, please."

Jaune hesitated for a moment then nodded solemnly, "Let's go" he said as he turned away.

Ciel grabbed Nora's hand and looked her in the eyes, "Please Nora, he can handle this" she said in the most motherly tone she could manage.

Ciel began pulling Nora, quickly down the hall after Jaune. While Nora continually looked back at him, tears in her eyes.

Ren sighed and returned his attention to his father, who was leaning against the wall smugly, "That girl, that's the Valkyries' kid right? The irony is sickening isn't it?" he scoffed.

For the first time in a long, long time, Ren completely lost control of his temper. He leapt forward with murderous intent, firing his StormFlowers at his bastard of a father.

The assassin gracefully dodged the flurry of bullets and went in for a slash attack at Ren's torso. Having been trained by his attacker, Ren knew all of his moves. He slid under Cyan's legs and spun around to stab him in the neck. Cyan noticed this and blocked the attack, once again, bring the two into a face to face power struggle.

Cyan smirked, "You know your mother really did do one thing right after all, she named you perfectly. Lie Ren. You will always be a Ren, you will always be an assassin like me, just look at your fighting style!"

Cyan won their power struggle and kicked him in the gut, sending him flying through the door of an empty dorm room.

Ren staggered to his feet and looked hatefully at his father as he casually waltzed into the room and spoke in a patronizing tone, "And then there is your first name, Lie. Tell me, how many lies have you told? How many lies have you filled that stupid girl's head with? How much does she really know about what you did to her?"

He charged at Cyan who easily took advantage of his anger and kicked him into the wall outside the room. Ren yelled at him, "What I did?! That was all you, you dragged me on that mission! That was all you, that was all-" He stopped and began crying profusely. He knew that what had happened to Nora, to her family, it was all his fault.

Cyan lost his temper at the sorry sight, "Stop crying you fucking pansy!" He yelled as he kicked Ren to the side again, bring his aura to a dangerously low level. He stood over his son and kicked him again, "God, you cry more than your mother, it's pathetic!" He said with disdain.

Ren cried out in anger, "You never saw her! I knew her for years before she died, do you even remember her name?!"

he and his father stared into eachother's eyes for a solid thirty seconds. The angry, pale pink eyes of his mother that he had inherited, versus the cold deep blue of his ruthless father.

Cyan laughed absently, "Your right I don't remember her name, being an assassin, I make a habit of not remembering the countless names of the dead. That's why I don't remember her name, that's why I don't remember the names of that girl's parents, and that's why-" He aimed his gun directly at Ren's face, "-I won't remember your name."

The second before he pulled the trigger, the two heard a large explosion coming from down the hall, "What!?" Yelled Cyan as he turned around to see an aggravated Nora soaring down the hall on her hammer. By the time he got ready to counter, it was already too late, Nora was right above him and she was all ready to attack.

"SMACK!" Yelled Nora as she slammed her hammer into Cyan at full force, sending him flying into the dorm room. Without even waiting to hear the thud of him hitting the ground, she changed her hammer into rocket form and blasted a whole volley of explosives into the dorm. The explosion ripped most of the hall apart, sending planks of wood flying everywhere amongst the cloud of pink dust that her rockets exuded.

Before Ren could even say a word, Nora dropped to her knees and pulled him into a massive bear hug, "You stupid dumb, stupid, stupid, stupid head! You could have died! You could have, you could have-" she broke into tear and buried her head in his shoulder, sobs wracking her entire body.

The two of them sat there in silence for a few more seconds, and as Nora's hot tears soaked Ren's freshly cleaned tunic, he sighed. He took Nora's head in his hands and stared caringly into her sad pale green eyes, most of the joy and energy he had come to love about her seemed totally replaced by sadness and exhaustion. These past few months had changed her, changed all of them, and they would have to keep changing to survive. That included Ren, one day he would have to tell her the real story about how the two of them ended up at the orphanage, the story she had forgotten, and that day was coming sooner, rather than later.

Ren smiled gently, "I'm sorry about getting myself in over my head, I promise I won't do it again, thank you for saving me."

Nora spoke between small sobs, "You better not, I can't do this...hic…without you, can you imagine...hic...me being on a team with only...hic…Jaune?"

He laughed, "I'm worry you would kill him with your enthusiasm."

"Oh hardy…hic...har" she said with a smile on her face.

As the began to rise to their feet they heard movement coming from the wreckage.

"Crap" said Ren.

Suddenly Cyan burst out from the remains of the dorm, battered and bloodied, but still very much alive.

"I am sick and tired of you annoying brats getting in the way of my target!" He yelled as he clutched his bleeding arm.

Ren noticed Cyan's aura slowly sealing the wound but it was taking much longer than it should have, he was clearly running on fumes.

He smiled, "Don't worry Nora, he can't hurt us, assassins like him aren't used to taking hits that big" he chuckled.

Nora looked surprised, "Even so he is a huntsmen, how is he so banged up?"

The boy let out another chuckle, "Remember when he one-shotted you back in the forest? That's because he concentrates almost all his aura into single strikes to try and kill his target immediately."

Cyan's eyes were lit with fury as he listened helplessly to his bastard son's explanation.

"But that's his greatest weakness, he spends so much aura on offense he can barely take a punch, even Jaune has better defense than this guy, take control of the fight away from him and he is as good as dead, isn't that right, Dad?" He said his last word with as much smug venom as he could muster.

Cyan merely grunted in anger and bolted down the hall away from them, to wounded to beat the two of them, he had no option but to run from a fight with his own son.

Ren smiled and turned to Nora, "Come on, let's go help the others."

...

"Are you sure it's ok for us to let Nora go?" Asked a worried Ciel.

Jaune looked back at her, the two running at top speed to catch up to Carbuncle, "I know that look Ren had in his eyes, it's the same one Pyhrra had before she died. I wasn't about to lose another friend, Nora's strength should be enough to change the tide of that battle."

Ciel looked at him in confusion, "Then why did you take her with us? Why wouldn't you just leave her behind to begin with?"

Jaune smirked, "I'm the group strategist for a reason, if she stayed behind then Cyan would kick her ass just like before, but if we took her with us and send her back during the fight she can catch him off guard. Therefore, a higher chance of victory."

She was incredibly surprised by this, "Wow, you're smarter than you look."

The blonde boy sighed, "I'll take that as a complement."

The two finally reached the outside to see the unfolding battle. Ruby was launching herself around at high velocity to avoid blasts from Azure who was casually fending off Weiss' strikes with his mic stand. All the while a ludicrous amount of ice dust was spreading across the courtyard. Sun was frozen from the waist down and knocked out while Blake was desperately trying to avoid attacks from a frenzied Carbuncle.

Jaune turned to Ciel, "You go help Ruby and Weiss, I'll try and help Blake!"

She nodded and charged towards Azure whose ice dust was spreading much faster than before.

Jaune looked back towards Blake who was quickly losing ground against Carbuncle's frenzied attacks.

Being the astoundingly untalented huntsmen in training that he was, he charged in blindly while swinging his sword like a lunatic.

Carbuncle noticed this and back-flipped behind Jaune with ease and roundhouse kicked him into the pavement, "Gaaah" he screamed as he collided with the pavement, stars now clouding his vision.

Blake sprinted towards Jaune and quickly helped him scramble to his feet.

"Thanks" he said.

"Don't thank me yet" she said with a sigh.

Jaune turned his attention to the psychotic huntsmen standing before them. He smiled wickedly, "Oh lucky day! I must have won the lottery! I get to kill the little shrimp who blindsided me AND the Ice Queen's pet Fanus in one battle!? Now that sounds like fun!" He spun his baton around and launched a volley of multi-elemental dust at the two of them.

Jaune rolled out of the way with his shield held out to protect him from any of the projectiles. Blake used her speed and her clone semblance to out maneuver all his attacks until she reached him in close range. Enraged by his degrading comment, she gave him a swift kick to the groin and attempted to stab him in the throat but Carbuncle was prepared for that move.

He leaned backwards to avoid the strike then kicked Blake's Gambol Shroud out of her had with his right leg. He then spun himself around and knocked her upside the head with his left leg and jabbed her in the stomach with his shock baton. The jolt of electricity caused all of Blake's hair to stand on end and leave her in a daze for a few seconds, giving Carbuncle the chance to punch her in the face, sending her flying into the pavement a few feet away.

"I wonder kitty-kat, if I were to mount your severed head on a pike and broadcast to the world, how many Fanus would be scared shitless and beg for mercy? The thought alone excites me!"

Carbuncle returned his gaze to Jaune and he chuckled, "I hope you prove to be more fun than her, such a downer those fanus." He started casually whistling as he pressed a button on his weapon, causing it to detach into two smaller versions of itself.

Jaune could feel himself shaking with fear, " _This is a huntsmen, an honest to god, deadly huntsmen! How could I possibly beat him? Me! Jaune, bottom of his first year class at Beacon, the failure of a boy that couldn't improve even with the tutelage of Pyhrra FUCKING Nikos!"_ The thought of his dead teammate turned his cowering heart to stone as he felt his aura bubble with rage, _"Pyrrha, that's right, I can't die here, I can't die till I see her killer die before my eyes! I won't lose, I can't lose. This isn't just about me, this is for everyone, I'm the leader of team JNPR and they are counting on me, I AM JAUNE ARC GOD FUCKING-"_

"DAMMIT" yelled a familiar voice before Jaune felt Weiss' body collide with him at sonic speed so hard that they made a crater in the pavement.

He felt his whole body aching as he helped the dizzy Weiss to her feet. Blake stumbled next to them, eyes frenzied with hate and weapon draw.

Ruby and Ciel were both flung backwards and landed on the ground just as unceremoniously as Weiss had, minus the sound of his bones breaking under them.

Azure casually strolled up next to Carbuncle with a smirk of satisfaction across his face. He had a few scratches and bruises but it was clear that Ruby and the others had failed to truly hurt him much.

Carbuncle pouted like a small child, "Aw, bro why did you have to go and do that I wanted to kill the kid all by myself."

Azure chuckled, "Ah just as bloodthirsty as ever, aren't you? Don't worry, you will have all the targets you can shoot once our boss declares war on the White Fang, it will be open season for you and all our hunters!"

His brother's merderous eyes lit up with excitement but Blake suddenly looked horrified, "What do you mean war with the White Fang?" She asked.

Azure sighed, "God your kind is slow. Seeing as the White Fang is responsible for the assault on Vale, it would obviously be in the boss' best interest to wipe them from the face of Remnant!" He said in a matter of fact tone.

Blake looked at Azure angrily, "But it was Cinder that orchestrated that whole thing!"

Carbuncle laughed, "Who? Oh right, that student from Haven that went missing after the attack!"

Azure nodded solemnly, "Yes it is a shame they never found the body, grimm love to destroy all the evidence" he said with a sarcastic grin.

Ruby swallowed a lump in her throat, "You intend to use the White Fang as a scapegoat...make the people so angry at them they don't notice the real threat has already seized power" she said in disbelief.

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!" Laughed Carbuncle.

Jaune spat a venomous reply at the two corrupt huntsmen, "We will stop you! Everyone will know the truth!"

Azure chuckled, "Who do you think the people will believe? The ones guarding their families and borders, or a couple of dead teenagers?"

He glanced at his who gave him a sadistic nod. He spun around and struck a pose with his mic like a rockstar at a concert, "Now let's wrap this up, Grand finally!" He yelled.

Suddenly a bright flash of light that was a mixture of arctic blue and scorching red came from the two huntsmen. Ciel's eyes widened and her jaw dropped to the floor, "Dear god dad, what have you done" she said under her breath.

When the light dulled the group of battered huntsmen in training stared awestruck at their adversaries.

The two were suddenly covered in blazing bright tattoos made out of pure dust. Carbuncle's a bright molten red, and Azure's an ominous freezing blue. The markings of the tattoos seemed to be in an ancient language that most dust based spell ruins were written in. The countless jumbled words branded every part of their visible body, even looping under their eyelids. But most impressive was the sheer feeling of power that radiated from their bodies, like they could raise a hand and have the forces of nature rise to fight for them.

Azure smiled, "Like what you see? These are dust imprints, the most powerful form of dust manipulation known to man. It's stupidly dangerous and illegal, but he can thank the support of a few fathers of those in attendance for giving us these upgrades."

Weiss looked down to the ground in shame, but Ciel was positively bursting with blind fury. She leapt forward at the two of them, sparks of dust and aura flying off her blade. She struck Azure upside the head, causing him to lose balance for a second, in retaliation he blasted her with a full maelstrom of dust that sent her barreling into the ground. He smiled, "Oh by the way these markings allow us to manipulate dust that would take ten normal huntsmen, observe."

He snapped his fingers and immediately all the ice dust formations around the battlefield merged together and formed a massive pillar of cold hard Ice that carried a surprised Ciel and an unconscious Sun up into the air and out of sight. The four students stood there gawking, unable to comprehend what they were seeing.

Before she could react, Ruby felt herself being launched into the air by an explosion of dust and was sent flying to the top of the structure.

Azure turned to his brother with a devious smile, "I'll let you deal with the others" he said before he began to ascend upwards into the air on a smaller pillar of ice.

Carbuncle looked back at the terrified trio of Blake, Weiss, and Jaune and smiled, "How fun."

He snapped his fingers and a wall of fire shot out in a large ring around the rubble of the court yard.

"Scatter!" Yelled Jaune in a voice that was cracking a lot more than he would have liked to admit; regardless his friends took his command to heart and the three bolted in separate directions to avoid a volley of fireballs that Carbuncle launched from his fingertips.

They continued their frantic game of cat and mouse till the three met up behind a mound of gravel that hand been ripped from the earth during their fight. "Oh come out, come out wherever you are!" Said Carbuncle creepily as he doused a poor innocent bench with hellfire. _"He is enjoying that power WAY too much"_ thought Jaune.

"What do we do?" Said a frightened Weiss.

The two girls looked at Jaune for an answer.

The young leader stared dumbfounded at them, "You're trusting ME with planning!?"

Blake nodded, "You are your team's strategist."

Jaune sighed, she had a point, "But what on earth could they possibly do to fight a monster like Carbuncle?" He thought, "Nothing short of an act of god can get us out of this." And while they later learned that it wasn't a god that helped them, what followed looked like it could be summed up as one.

A massive bolt of lightning shot out from the top of the ice pillar causing the whole structure to rumble and crack. "What the?" Yelled Carbuncle as he looked up in confusion at the strange phenomenon.

Following the first bolt several smaller bolts of lightning shot out in all directions, creating a golden crown of electricity on top of the monolithic titan of a structure before them. Several explosions launching shards of ice into the air came after each bolt, causing the cracks in the pillar to grow more and more apparent.

Suddenly a plan snapped into place in his mind. A stupid, crazy, suicidal plan, but a plan nonetheless.

He turned to Weiss and Blake with a half smile and whispered his plan into their ears. Weiss almost gagged when she heard it, "Even Nora isn't that crazy!" She protested quietly. Blake simply looked at him wide eyed as if the pressure of being a team leader finally made him snap.

Jaune looked at them with stone faced determination, "I can get you one minute, make it count" he said, and before his comrades could protest any further, he leapt over the mound of gravel, directly into Carbuncle's line of sight.

(Awkward Justice from Tales of the Abyss starts playing)

"Hey! Over here dumbass!" He yelled.

Carbuncle reacted predictably to the insult and launched a ball of fire at him. Jaune narrowly rolled out of the way of the attack and drew his sword. He began bobbing and weaving his way amongst the wreckage of the courtyard and the chunks of ice dust that had fallen of the pillar. He was always one step away from being roasted alive by Carbuncle. He saw out of the corner of his eye, Weiss getting into position inside one of the cracks in the pillar. Blake was already in position behind one of the shards of ice, waiting for the signal.

Jaune tuck and rolled under Carbuncle's latest projectile and charged directly at the psycho.

He looked surprised at first but started laughing like the joker, clearly amused by his enemies desperate attack. He blasted another ball of fire forward and Jaune held out his shield to block it.

The blast was hotter than Hades and immediately made Janue sweat out all the water he had stored in his body, _"Mental note to future Jaune, if I survive this war, build a workout routine around running through hellfire. Get a good marketing department and you could make millions!"_ He thought.

The blast had drained much of his aura but something felt strange, his protective soul force-field seemed to shimmer more than normal and he felt a burning sensation in his eyes, _"Probably just ash, keep focused."_

Jaune kept charging forward and slashed at Carbuncle. The man dodged out of the way and withdrew his baton yet again, "Fine! If I can't melt you than trusty ol' _'Twinbellows'_ can taste your blood instead!" He slammed his baton down on his who blocked the strike with his shield. The electricity arcing off of the weapon in all directions, sending a jolt through Jaune's metal shield and damaging his aura, _"Where is Nora when you need her?"_

He dropped to his knees and sliced at Carbuncle's kneecap with his sword, causing Carbuncle to yelp in pain before slamming his baton down on Jaune's skull, sending him face first into the pavement.

Carbuncle began laughing again, "Nice shot kid! You actually got a hit on me!" He said, almost proud.

The boy lifted his head up to see Blake staring at him a few feet away, her Amber eyes fraught with worry. _"I hope I bought Weiss enough time"_ he thought. He gave her the signal, a sly wink from his right eye. Blake nodded and tossed her Gambol Shroud in an arc, around the battlefield and it coiled Carbuncle in a straight jacket of rope.

Carbuncle hissed and struggled to break free, angry at himself for not keeping an eye on his other targets. Blake channelled all her strength into her arms as she tossed Carbuncle through the air and into the pillar of ice dust. Upon collision Jaune's theory was proved right. Carbuncle's markings reacted violently with the opposite element and the dust around him exploded, creating a huge gash in the side of the pillar. Carbuncle staggered to his feet while dizzily shouting profanity that would make a Vacuan sailor blush, his eyes burning with the malice of a demon.

"Weiss, now!" Yelled Jaune.

(Music stops)

The ground shook and Carbuncle wildly looked around him and laid his eyes on a large fissure, his smile faded when the realization of what Jaune had been planning. The whole time he had been fighting him and Blake he had completely missed the dust gifted heiress funneling her aura into the structure of ice. She had been waiting, feeling her aura's influence seep into the dust around her till she could control it. Now a massive fist made out of his own brother's high powered ice dust was coming crashing down on him from above, and the last thought that went through his head before the explosion was, _"That kid fucking played me!"_

The blast from the impact cracked the ground a dozen yards away. The shock waves from the energy released by the volatile substance sent Blake and Jaune flying several feet. Once the light subsided and the court yard was left in complete carnage, Weiss stumbled out of the fissure she was nestled in and nearly fell over from exhaustion, "We did it!" She wheezed happily.

Blake and Jaune looked at each other in disbelief before nearly keeling over with laughter, _"The plan worked!"_ They thought.

But their celebration was cut far too short when they saw Carbuncle burst out of the rubble. He was hunched over and coughing up blood. The anger and spite his eyes held before was nothing compared to the sheer, unadulterated rage that clouded them now.

The three friends drew their weapons and huddled together, "What's the plan?" Asked Weiss, sounding as if she was ready to fall asleep at any moment.

Jaune froze, "That was the plan" he said sheepishly.

The two girls froze up as well.

Carbuncle looked at them like a wild, hungry animal and charged on all fours towards them, _"As Blake always said, you didn't have to be a fanus to be a total animal."_

The three leapt away just in time to avoid being electrocuted by Carbuncle's baton. Blake fired several bullets at Carbuncle, all of them hitting his abdomen and just barely cancelled by low aura.

Weiss lunged forward with her Myrtenaster, the man narrowly avoided being skewered by her and kicked her in the groin, breaking the last of her aura and sending her rolling away.

Blake jumped towards the monster of a man and slashed at him, nicking his cheek and enraging him more. He bashed her in the face with his baton, instantly knocking her out. As she slumped to the ground Juane came to the horrifying realization that he was the only one of the three left in anything resembling fighting condition.

He swallowed his fear and leapt forward to attack with his sword and was blocked by Carbuncle's trusty Twinbellows. The electricity running through his body and numbing his hand. Carbuncle grabbed Jaune's arm and used his leverage to suplex him and toss him to the side. He fell to the ground with a defeated clang as his sword and shield skitted across the pavement, out of reach.

The huntsman spat at him and began to walk over towards Blake's unconscious body, and smiled like the serial killer he so clearly was "Now where was I? Oh yeah, head on a pike!"

He raised his baton and everything felt like it went into slow motion, " _This is it, I failed to protect another friend, now I have to watch her and Weiss die in front of me, then die myself!"_ Jaune felt his despair grow to the point where he was probably drawing the attention of every grimm on the continent. Like always his plans weren't enough, in the end he was the weak link, the anchor that would always drown his friends, the one that already doomed the most incredible woman he ever met.

 _"Don't lose hope!"_ Rang a voice in his head. He snapped back to reality, he felt his despair fading and his aura growing warmer, more solid. _"You're stronger than you know, find it in your soul, you are capable, you are a warrior!"_ The voice bellowed.

Jaune felt his muscles surge with energy, he leapt to his feet and charge towards Blake. He had no clue what he was doing, he was acting on pure instinct. Just as Carbuncle was about to bring his weapon down on Blake to deliver a fatal blow, Jaune jumped in between the two. The baton collided with Jaune's chest plate. His aura shimmered bright yellow and seemed to solidify into a brick wall, "I won't lose anyone else" he said.

Instead of his aura absorbing the attack, the force of the blow seemed to recoil at Carbuncle as well as the electricity. His marking flared up as he began listing off a cacophony of pained swears as the damage of his own attack racked his body. Jaune glanced down at the ground and spotted his shield at his feet, upon his shield he could see his reflection. A shimmering coat of heavenly aura coated his body. Also, barely visible, were three tall, golden, spectral shields with his crest imbued on their mirror like surface. Most stunning of all were his eyes which shone with the fierce blue of a tsunami. He felt the voice in his head whisper him a name, the name of his semblance, _"Reflection"_ he said.

He looked at the winded Carbuncle, the fearsome huntsmen he saw several minutes ago was now reduced to a weakened, angry, mess of a man. Never had he seem someone lose so ungracefully.

"Your a disgrace" Jaune said bluntly.

He picked up his shield, "I won't lose anymore of my friends" he said.

Carbuncle looked at him wildly and prepared for another attack.

He grit his teeth, "NOT ONE MORE!" He yelled.

Before Carbuncle could strike, Jaune slammed his shield into the man's temple, knocking him out instantly.

The blonde panted as he felt his anger and aura dissipate, he looked up and saw Weiss starring at him, wide eyed and shocked at the display she had just witnessed. He would have liked to have said some swave, badass one liner like the heros in old western movies, but jaune was not a hero, nor did he have the strength left to stay conscious.

The exhausted leader fell to his knees and began to black out, but before everything faded to black, a feeling washed over him, a feeling that he had cherished as his last happy memory before the world went mad. The warm feeling of the kiss he received by the most amazing person he ever knew. The haunting taste of her perfect lips as they bide him goodbye in her eleventh hour.

 _"Pyrrha…"_


	16. Chapter 14: No Turning Back, part 2

**A/N So Volume 4 is slated to release October 22nd, GET HYPED SON! But in the mean time here is the finale to my version of volume 4. Thanks for all the support.**

...

"I'm going to ask you again Schnne, where is Lord Damu?" Asked Adam.

The head of the Schnne family, Aibori, scoffed at the terrorist, "I don't give in to demands of vermin like you, I will never talk!"

While he would never admit it, the fanus did hold all the cards in the situation. He and his compatriot, Dr. Wilt Soleil, were bound in rope and shackled with the good doctor's aura nullifying restraints (He would have to berate him for his invention later). They were locked in the grand throne room of their mansion. Years of his noble legacy engraved into the murals and architecture of the room was now sitting defaced by the vile hands of the monstrous White Fang.

They held two other hostages, an employe that he didn't know the name of and his eldest daughter Winter, lay beaten and bruised, corralled into the corner like animals. The leader of the White Fang, Adam Taurus, was stilling smugly on the Schnee throne, tainting it with his fanus presence.

If Aibori had his weapon, he would have sliced the abomination's entrails out and display them for all his ignorant brethren to see.

Adam sighed, "Bring the next hostage forward."

A burly fanus grabbed a woman by the arm and dragged her forward. Her eyes went wide with fear, "No please! I'm just a receptionist, please let me go, I have three children please!" the fanus threw her to the ground in front of Adam.

The man stood up and stared down at the woman, "Kneel" he said.

The woman complied and kneeled before him. Adam began laughing, "It's good to see the tables turned for once" he unsheathed his katana and stepped forward.

The woman began to cry, "Please don't!"

Adam smiled as he decapitated his victim and watched gleefully as her head rolled down the stairs and stained the carpet with human blood. Winter was enraged by the act of brutality and glared at the man with fury and lust for revenge in her eyes.

"Did that loosen your lips Schnne?" Asked Adam with disdain.

Aibori glanced at the beast, completely unamused by his sad attempt at intimidation, "You're really bad at this you know. Employees like her are a dime a dozen. She was expendable, just like you and your fellow mutts working in my mines."

Adam grit his teeth as an uncontrollable rage flooded his body, "NO, YOU ARE THE EXPENDABLE ONE HERE!" Adam lunged forward and stabbed his katana into the stone next to Aibori's head.

The two locked eyes for several minutes, enough hate exchanged between their glances to feed a thousand Grimm for a millennium, before Adam sheathed his katana and looked away. He removed a tattered book form his pocket and stared intently at it before tossing it to the ground in front of him. "Do you know what this is?" He asked.

The wealthy man scoffed, "Of course I know your dog lord's blasphemous literature!"

Adam had to restrain himself from removing the tyrant's head from his shoulders, "It is not blasphemous, "The Third Crusade" speaks nothing but absolute truth. Our glorious leader penned that book years ago when he was rotting in you human's god forsaken prison. He inspired us all to claim what is rightfully ours and he was thrown back in jail for it."

Adam picked the book back up and held it proudly to his chest, "Now the time is right for the crusade to start once more, it is time for us to release our leader from his shackles once more as we lead the charge towards the end of man and the rise of Fanus. I will ask you once more, where is he, where is lord Damu Belladonna?!"

There was a tense silence as everyone in attendance waited for the man's response. For better or for worse however, they were interrupted by a third party. "Adam was it? Surely you're precious leader would be ashamed about his little apprentice throwing a tantrum."

"Who said that?" Demanded Adam as he looked around the room wildly.

"Up here" said the voice. Everyone in the room looked up to the skylights on the ceiling. One was open and had a single black Raven, sitting perched on the edge. The bird dived downwards into the room and transformed into an elegant yet fiercely frightening woman dressed in red and black. "My name is Raven."

For the first time during the whole invasion, Aibori showed an emotion. It was one of suprise, "Raven! By gods, what are you doing here?" He said.

"As he said, it has been quite awhile" said the doctor.

Winter stared at the new arrival with curious eyes, "So this is Qrow's twin sister, Raven."

For the first time in a long while, Adam felt fear rising inside him, "You! You're from team STRQ! You were one of the huntsmen that imprisoned lord Damu!"

Raven smiled, "Yes darling that is true, and if I remember correctly you were that scared little boy that ran away instead of fighting at your master's side. You're all bark and no bite." she punctuated her accusation with a mocking laugh.

Adam lost his temper and grabbed the hilt of his katana. Winter called out, "Be careful, he's charging up an attack, it will cut straight through you!"

One of the guards smacked her across the face, "Shut up" he yelled.

Raven smiled, "That sounds interesting, I'd like to see this attack if you don't mind."

Adam smiled wickedly, "Anything for my victim's final request." He unsheathed his blade and let out a shock wave of impressive energy that would cleave through anything.

Raven sighed, "That's it?" She said with disappointment. Just as the attack reached her, she transformed back into a bird and dodged it at the last possible second. She flew forward and changed back into a human mid fight. Before Adam could react, he was knocked to the floor by his adversary and had the edge of her katana pointed at his throat. She smiled and placed her weapon back in its sheath and walked past him.

"You are quite the fool to face her Adam, but you were never very bright to begin with I suppose said another voice. From the feeling dropped a familiar and sinister face from Adam's not so distant past.

"Cinder! Are you working with her? Have you betrayed me?" He asked.

Cinder scoffed, "Please Adam, don't be so naive. Did you honestly think I wouldn't? Trusting me is pretty ironic, considering backstabbing is in your job description."

Enough taunting the boy Cinder, it's beneath us" said Raven as she approached the Schnne throne.

A White Fang soldier barged into the room in a panic, "Sir, Sir, the huntsmen are-" he stopped mid sentence once he laid eyes on his boss, who was currently scraping himself off the floor.

"Please, Go on" said Raven with a smile.

The soldier continued his report, "Sir, the huntsmen are attacking in full force. They are ripping through our ranks like nothing sir!"

"What!?" Yelled Adam, nearly choking on his rage.

"Cinder, if you would be so kind as to show our guest what is happening." Said Raven casually.

Cinder nodded, "But of course." Cinder fired a large for ball at the wall of the room, creating a massive hole.

Adam tentatively stepped forward to see the outside. The sight caused him to drop his jaw. The proud army he had built for years was being mercilessly torn to shreds by a tidal wave of trained huntsmen. With fire and purpose in their eyes, they hack and slashed their way through his soldiers. His brethren dropping like flies left and right.

Leading the charge were two of the most powerful huntsmen in the world. At the front of the left flank was Jacob Cemalt, owner of the title _"The Cavalier of Death"_ effortlessly hacked to pieces any fanus that dared to cross him. With his mysterious and ancient sword _"Siegfried"_ in hand he was a whirlwind of destruction, an invincible God among mortal men.

Leading the right flank was Adam's childhood idol. The most skilled Fanus warrior in the world. Edna Crimson, otherwise know as _"Bloody Mary"_ bludgeoned her fellow fanus without prejudice. Her infamous _"Staff of Oblivion"_ complimented her hypnotic snake eyes as she brought hell down on all those around her. A dust Mage without peer, a truly terrifying sight.

"Don't you see Adam, you were never going to win this fight" said Raven.

Adam turned to see Raven sitting down on the throne, resting her head on the palm of her hand. She radiated a certain aura, as if to say _"I have you under my full control and you know it"_ and as much as Adam would have hated to admit it, she pulled the queen look off almost to flawlessly.

She smiled and spoke in a condescending tone "You may think you are some righteous hero with a noble goal but you're not. You're a child swinging a sword around and using big words that you barely even understand the meaning off. You're a maggot that I intend to slowly pulverize into a paste with the heel of my boot. You will fail, and history will never remember your name."

For the first time in years Adam felt something that he thought he would ever feel again, he felt afraid of a human.

Raven smelled his fear and her smile widened, "However I am a merciful victor, I will give you two options. Your choice will affect the fate of every fanus on the planet, so choice wisely. You can retreat today, I won't stop you, but know that I will hunt you and your organization down till every last one of you is dead, and I will destroy any human or fanus that gets in my way."

She paused to let the statement sink in, "Or you can bow before me, and I can leader both your people and mine into an era of unprecedented prosperity. It's your choice Taurus."

There was a long pause that none dared to end until Adam gave his answer, "We're moving out" He said. His men looked at each other uncomfortably, "I SAID WE ARE MOVING OUT!" His soldiers began running for the door and a deeply shaken Adam followed them.

As he was stepping through the threshold of the throne room, Raven called out to him, "It appears you have made your decision, you are beyond salvation."

…...

Jaune had had some bad dreams before, especially after what had happened during the Vytal Festival, but he had never had one that felt so real yet so psychodelic at the same time. Images of his life spun in and out of his vision, intersecting and merging at random. The sights of his seven sisters all teaching him how to dance and dressing him up in girlish clothes. The memories of sitting on his father's lap as he recounted tale after tale of the Arc family's exploits as a line of incredible warriors.

These happy days and emotions faded to make room for the feelings of sorrow and dread that drenched the house for weeks on end after his mother had a miscarriage and cost his younger brother the chance to live in their world (Something that Jaune had almost envied in recent months). The look disappointment etched into his father's eyes when Jaune had failed miserably in a sparring match for the uptenth time, proving once and for all to his father that he would never be a huntsmen, and that the Arc legacy would die with him. His father's voice echoing in his mind, "Why must you do this to me my son, I have done everything in my power to train you. Why can't you improve, what am I doing wrong! Why are you so weak!"

His father had instantly apologized for what he said but Jaune knew that deep down, his father was not sorry, that his father would never forgive him for sullying their proud blood with the cardinal sin of a warrior, weakness.

Jaune's only wish his whole life had been to impress his family, to prove them all wrong, to prove he could be a warrior stronger than any of his ancestors. With his motivation in hand, he forged his transcripts and went to the one place in the world that still had a chance at sculpting him into a hero, Beacon Academy. There he admittedly got in way over his head and lost the only person who ever truly believed in him, _"Pyrrha"_ he said, a shiver crawling down his spine.

The scene changed to the Emerald forest right outside school grounds, his aura sparking wildly like never before as it unlocked. Jaune opened his eyes to see the smiling face of his partner staring back at him. Her dazzlingly beautiful armor that complimented her body perfectly, was in tip top condition. Her long lava colored hair, running down her back in a gorgeous ponytail like it always did. Her masterpiece weapons, Miló and Akoúō, at her side in pristine condition. Her vivid-green eyes that always assured you that everything would be ok. All of it was standing right before his eyes, just within reach.

"Pyrrha, Pyrrha, is that really you!?" He asked in amazement.

She smiled, "Yes but I'd advise against pinching yourself, don't want this reunion to be cut shorter than it already is." As if on cue the dream started to lose lucidity, the details of the forest began to fade away and everything went out of focus.

Jaune became flustered, "Pyrrha, you're alive! Where are you!? If you're trapped somewhere I can save you, we miss you so much!"

A tear streamed down Pyrrha's cheek, "No Jaune, I'm dead, I-I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough." More tears streamed down her cheeks.

The ground beneath them began to crumble and Pyrrha's aura started to shimmer. A look of panic spread over her face. She grabbed Jaune's collar and pulled him closer, "Jaune please listen to me, Cinder, Raven, Mavros, Salem, Ozpin, their war is destroying this world from the inside out. You and Ruby have to find a way to end this before it's too late! Before Misery consumes everything!"

Jaune simply looked at her in confusion, "What do you mean? Who is Mavros, who is Salem? What is going on?"

The scenery had all but vanished and Pyrrha's form was beginning to fade into a red mist, "Dammit not now!" She yelled in frustration then turned to her love, "Please, just trust me, you guys are the only hope! You can free us from this stagnant cycle of hate. Everyone else has given up but I haven't! Please do this for me, for everyone!"

Her body was dissipating faster and faster till Jaune could no longer hold onto her, "Wait Pyrrha, don't go!" He yelled.

"Don't worry Jaune, I will always be with you. More literally than you might think."

Pyrrha closed her eyes and muttered a strange saying similar to the one she said when she released his aura, **_"Scorned by the immortal trapped in dust and hate, unbound from flesh and tethered to death, souls intertwined by chance and fate. Though the parting hurts and tears the sky, a new hope is yet to rise, open thine heart and embrace me, for I am the one! I am eternity! Marked in stone, let it be known that I shall shield you from the storm to come!"_**

She leaned forward and kissed Jaune on the lips, "I love you" she said as she evaporated into a red light that engulfed Jaune's yellow aura, turning it into a dazzling sunset orange color. A feeling of warmth and comfort washed over him before the glow of their souls dimmed. Leaving him once more cold and alone in the void of his dreams

…...

Ruby landed on the top of the ice pillar with a loud thud. Ciel quickly pulled her to her feet and dragged her behind a slab of ice dust for cover.

"Fuck, this is bad, this is bad, this is REALLY bad" said Ciel, genuine fear in her eyes.

Ruby rubbed her on the back to try and calm her down, "Ciel, please tell me, what the hell was that?"

Ciel took a deep breath, "Those are level one dust implants. They were an ambitious experiment mine and Weiss' fathers worked on years ago. They give the user complete control over the very elements based on the dust they are made of." She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, apparently he gave Azure control over ice and Carbuncle fire."

Ruby sighed and stared down at her Crescent Rose, "Well that's just perfect, could use Yang's fire right about now."

Sun, who was lying unconscious next to them, began to stir and wake from his sleep, "Gaaahh, what the hell is going on? Is this dust!? Ruby what happened while I was out!?"

"Ciel and Jaune showed up, Azure went crazy and turned out to be some kind of demigod with full power over ice. We're currently trapped on top of his ice tower with no hope of escape" she said bluntly.

Sun stared at her blankly for a few moments then sighed in defeat "Half a fucking day and you guys already get me killed."

They heard a loud rumbling as Azure flew into view on a cloud of ice and snow, murderous joy in his eyes. He hadn't seen them so the three wounded teenagers huddled together behind their cover, hoping desperately that he wouldn't find them.

Ciel took her strange claw weapon and stabbed it into the ice; extracting a shard of blue dust and inserting it into the watch. Half the blade began to glow blue and give off a cold aura. If Ruby wasn't in the middle of a life or death battle, she would be positively nerding out over her weapon's impressive design.

Azure began happily whistling an ominous tune, as he strolled around the barren wasteland atop the tower, "This is great! I've never really gotten the chance to fully explore the extent of my power. Man Ciel, you dad really outdid himself with these." He starred gleefully at the glowing markings.

"Oh and by the by, I can sense your heart rate through the dust, you can't hide."

The three of them froze in horror before their cover exploded behind them.

"NOW DANCE FOR ME BABY!" Yelled Azure as he struck another pose and shot shards of dust in every directions.

Ruby used her speed to narrowly dodge the projectiles while Ciel pressed a button on her watch, causing her claw to extend into an aura shield. Sun on the other hand used this opportunity to roll forward towards his enemy and engage him in close range combat. Even with his injuries, Sun fought with all his might, "THIS IS FOR WRECKING MY SCHOOL JACKASS!" He yelled as he smacked his staff into Azure's face and pulled the trigger.

A burst of dust came from the end of the staff, sending Azure reeling back. The victory was however almost comically short lived as he used his mic stand to sweep Sun's feet out from under him and put him into a wall like a golf ball.

"Fiesty, Fiesty, I like that monkey boy!" He said cheerfully.

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT!" Yelled Sun as he charged back into the fray.

Ruby looked at him in surprise, "Neptune wasn't kidding when he said Sun had a temper" she said, more than a little impressed.

Ciel jumped to Sun's aid as she dove in for a strike with her multi elemental claw. The icy half nullified the blast of dust from Azure's counter attack, and the electric half sent shock waves across Azure's weapon. More than a little annoyed by this, he punted her into the air with his foot and smacked her into Wukong with his mic.

Ruby blasted herself forward with her Crescent Rose, hoping to catch him off guard. Azure didn't even look in Ruby's direction, and was able to erect an Ice barrier between him and her. Her weapon collided with the wall and the ice formed around it and her body, lodging them both in place.

Azure smirked, "Wow there Peanut Gallery, I'll sign your autograph as soon as I finish theirs."

Azure turned to Ciel and Sun who were falling all over themselves to get up, the slippery surface doing them no favors to aid their endeavor. Azure's smile widened as he snapped his fingers. A large dome of ice formed around the two and slowly began to shrink.

Holes began to appear on the dome's surface from her friends' attempts at freedom but they were filled in as fast as they were formed; the size of the prison dwindling fast.

"NO!" Ruby yelled, helpless to do anything but look on in horror as her friends began to suffocate in that monster's cage.

She finally managed to break free of the ice wall and charged blindly at Azure. She swung her blade with all her might, only for it to be stopped dead in its tracks by his hand. The markings generated ice that crawled and snaked its way across Crescent Rose, turning it white as snow and sending a chill down her spine.

Azure raised her weapon casually, lifting Ruby straight off her feet in the process. He scanned her terrified little body with his set of deep, empty blue eyes. He chuckled, "So you're that whore Summer's bastard child?"

What he said snapped something primal in Ruby. The topic of her mother was always a cesspool of endlessly complex emotions that colored all the memories of her childhood. She could never tell which was stronger, her admiration for the hero she was, the hatred she felt towards her for dying and leaving their perfect family in a broken mess of alcoholism and isolation, or the terrifying feeling of indifference about the pictures esque woman who all memories of floated out of grasp on the fringes of her mind.

The mixture of these feelings spewed into her mind all at once, this cacophony of confusion that just got more and more complicated as the years dragged on now had a new question floating in it. One that this monster suggested with a single word, _"Bastard. Am I a bastard? Did my mother even want me?"_ A thought that was most unwelcome in her already deteriorating mental state.

Ruby felt her rage rise through her bones and pool into her eyes till she could barely see straight, the world suddenly tinged white and was sent into slow motion. She felt an incomprehensible amount of strength build in her muscles as she pushed herself to the ground and pulled Azure into the air with her weapon as if it were a see-saw at the park. The huntsman's eyes went wide with shock as he stared at her, muttering a few words to himself in disbelief. The roaring power in Ruby's ears drowned out the sound of his voice but she could still read his lips, _"Silver Eyes"_ he said.

She tossed him like a rag doll into a nearby wall. Without even thinking she charged at him to continue her assault, the anger in her blood overpowering her need to save her friends. Azure tried to blast her with with a flurry of snow and hail but she simply glided through it with reckless abandon. She kicked him in the chest and swung her scythe, hitting him with the full force of her blade. It took all of his strength to channel enough aura into his neck to avoid being decapitated.

The force knocked him to the ground. Ruby attacked again and again to keep Azure on the defensive and it was working, The huntsman was quickly getting sloppy and failed to block several more strikes from her Scythe, she was winning. It didn't last long however, slowly her anger began to fade and with it, her strength. The power seething from her eyes began to subside and her swings began to grow more clumsy as the pain from her battered and bruised body returned.

Azure saw this and took up the offensive. He skidded around Ruby on the ice and used his momentum to knock her upside the head with the base of his stand. She went head first into the ice and felt her aura begin to buckle under all the damage she had taken that night, she was nearing her limit. Azure began laughing uncontrollably, his brush with death clearly having shaken him to his core, "That was a good one, you REALLY had me going there for a second! What with the magic eyes and all that, for a moment I was almost scared that I would lose!" He continued laughing as he strolled over to Ruby.

She attempted to rise to her feet but was immediately kicked back down to the ground by her sadistic enemy, "That's ridiculous! Me lose to one of you wannabe wizards! Impossible! After all-" He gripped his weapon tightly and a blade made of pure Ice began to protrude out from the top and curve to the side into an ominous scythe.

He stepped on Ruby's stomach to hold her down, making her wince in pain, "-I did kill your mother." The whole world seemed to stop around her, the words of her adversary sinking into her with more deadly intent than any blade. Her mind spun at a thousand miles a minute, The sick, monstrous man standing above her was the reason her mother never made it home that day. The reason her father and uncle sank into depression and alcohol abuse. The reason she lost her childhood. The reason she felt the way she did. The reason she nearly took her own life.

But it was too late, it didn't matter that she didn't have the courage to end it all when she had the chance, the one who killed her mother had returned to finish off her daugther. The cold, festering sickness that he seeded in her mind by killing her mom all those years ago hadn't done the job so he would do it personally. It didn't matter what she had done in the end, the same fate awaited her. The cold cruel blade of a scythe would guide her to her fabled mother's side. Deep inside the void in Ruby's being, a voice was crying out in euphoria, _"Yes! Yes! Yes! Sweet release at last! Now set me free! Let me fly to her side and finally remember her face!"_

Just as Azure was about to bring his weapon down on Ruby, the tower began to shake violently. The small dome that was closing around her friends began to glow bright yellow then exploded in a brilliant show of lightning. The two looked on in confusion as they saw the figures of Ciel and Sun. The fanus was hunched over on the ground trying to catch his breath while muttering, "I'm tired of all this magical bullshit" under his winded breath.

Ciel was standing upright, blade hissing with the ferocity of a King Taijitu, A look of solemn determination on her face that would cause even the most experienced fighter to cower in fear. But the most shocking thing about her was her skin. Instead of its normally smooth brow color, it was covered with the same dust tattoos that coated Azure and Carbuncle only instead of shining the color of fire or ice, it shone with crackling yellow electricity.

Azure began to chuckle, a curious grin on his face; "I can't believe it! I should have know that son of a bitch Sol wouldn't have been satisfied with only experimenting on my brother and I, but to think, he would give these implants to his own DAUGHTER!? I knew that guy was a sick bastard but this is impressive!"

Ciel charged forward, thunder cracking with each movement and lightning spewing from her body. Azure erected a thick barrier of ice between himself and her but she tore through it like wet paper. Azure leapt backwards, spewing another flurry at his opponent to slow them down, "The ability to use dust markings is unrestricted by aura level, that's how you broke out of your cell I presume?" He asked.

Ciel refused to speak, the utmost concentration in her demeanor as she went in for an attack with her blade. Azure blocked it with his scythe but got a nasty shock from her lightning. He stumbled backwards and placed his hand on the icy floor, "Let's see who has stronger power over their element, shall we?" A plethora of ice shards jettisoned out of the floor and launched towards Ciel. She launched a counterattack in the form of a volley of lightning strikes and shattered Azure's attack.

His offensive broken, Azure sneered at Ciel and began to shift the surface of the tower into a massive cage of ice. Ciel blasted the futile attempt at capturing her with another stream of energy. She lunged forward at her godfather and traded several blows with him. While he was physically stronger than her and was able to overpower her strikes, the energy from her weapon still managed to chip away at his already dwindling energy.

With every clash of their weapons, sparks of lightning and shards of ice blasted outwards in every direction. If Ruby hadn't known any better, she would have thought she was watching two gods of nature battle it out just like they had in fairy tales.

The pillar began to shake and crack, turning the smooth arena Azure had prepared into a rough landscape. Even though she had only been using her markings for about a minute, Ciel was becoming visibly exhausted with the fight, and despite the damage she had done to him he was quickly regaining the advantage. The struggle took a turn for the worst when Ciel stumbled on a piece of ice jetting out of the ground. She recovered quickly but was unable to close the opening in her defense.

Azure smacked her with the but of his stand and sent her sailing to the ground with a thud. He began to laugh, "You got a lot of power, I'll give ya that. But a kid like you can't handle the strain of the markings. You'll end up killing yourself if you keep them active much longer, and we wouldn't want that now would we?" She tried to stand up again but her tired body rebelled and she fell to the ground. The glow of her markings vanished as they began to disappear back into the surface of her skin.

Ruby had to do something, she might have not cared if she died here, but I'd be a cold day in hell before she would let another friend die in front of her. Ruby locked eyes with Sun who was still recovering from his near suffocation. He rolled his eyes and mouthed the word "Fine" before charging towards the huntsman. The two clashed for a few seconds, the toll of the battle having weakened Azure significantly to the point where they fought on equal ground.

Ruby reloaded her Crescent Rose and began looking wildly around the battlefield. The pillar continuing to shake and crack after the three heard a massive explosion from the down below, "Let's hope that's Weiss and the others raising hell" thought Ruby hopefully. She saw a slanted wall that could be used as a ramp on the far side of the arena behind Azure.

(Erza's theme from fairy tail begins playing)

Ruby locked and loaded her Scythe and launched herself towards the ramp with zero regard for her own safety (Just like always). Azure knocked his opponent backwards with yet another flurry of ice, a stream of creative language spewing from Sun's raging mouth as he fell to the ground.

The murderer turned his attention to the red headed huntress that was barrelling toward him at breakneck speed, "Stupid kid!" he yelled as he blasted a wave of ice shards at his oncoming adversary. Ruby expected this and used her dust rounds to propel her upwards, over the attack. Azure readied his makeshift Scythe for Melee combat but was surprised when he realized that wasn't her intention.

Ruby launched another round to lift her over Azure's head and out of his reach, she spun her weapon around till the barrels of its gun was angled squarely at the small of his back when she began her descent. She pulled the trigger and shot herself forward towards the ramp at the expense of her opponent, who was currently suffering the recoil of her blast.

Ruby reached the ramp and used it to angle herself just right so she could launch skywards with another shot. Azure frantically blasted more ice shards at her but missed due to the violent shaking of the pillar throwing off his aim. Once she reached the peak of her ascent she spun herself around and reloaded her rifle mid air. She smiled and blasted downward at terminal velocity, straight at the murderer.

The swave smirk that normally occupied his face turned into a barely concealed look of fear. He began launching volley after volley of shards at her in an attempt to thwart her assault, but Ruby was unaffected, every time one of the inaccurate shards sailed at her she spun herself in a corkscrew with her Scythe and cleaved them in two.

Azure finally had enough of the uphill struggle and raised enough shards to blacken the sun, he got ready to launch them at the ever nearing adversary, but before he could, a sharp pain hit his abdomen and he dropped his projectiles, _"What!?"_ He thought with anger. He turned to his side and saw Sun Wukong casually leaning up against an ice wall, his staff unfolded into their gunchuck form and a smug smile across his face. "Don't fuck with my friends" he said with a laugh.

Azure looked up to see the daughter of his lifelong rival directly above him as she brought her weapon down on him. The barrel of her gun pinning him to the surface of the pillar. She pulled the trigger and he felt himself blasted down into the ice, the entire structure destabilizing and collapsing around him from the impact.

The whole tower broke into pieces and the three friends found themselves suspended in mid air, about to fall to their doom. Ruby grabbed Sun and the barely conscious Ciel and used her speed to jump from fractured piece to piece of the structure till they landed safely, if not very gracefully, on the ground.

(Music stops)

Weiss, Jaune, and Blake hobbled towards Ruby and the others with stupid, tired grins on their faces; except for Jaune, who was so pale it looked like he had just seen a ghost.

Ren and Nora walked out of the dorm building, carrying a half conscious Scarlet with them.

Neo also arrived on the scene while carefully supporting Neptune who was walking with a limp. Sage accompanied them with a knocked out Emerald slung over his back; who he promptly tossed on top of Carbuncle's unconscious body.

Azure crawled out of the icy wreckage and collapsed next to his brother, bleeding and panting like a dog.

Ruby's eyes lit up with rage as she drew her weapon again, "You're not getting out of this alive you son of a bitch!"

Everyone was taken aback by Ruby's outburst. She was a lot of things, but a swearer wasn't one of them.

Azure panicked and blasted a weak wind of dust that managed to knock the tired Ruby onto the ground.

Weiss ran over to here and helped her to her feet, "Ruby what's going on, what happened up there?"

Ruby looked at her with a fire of hate burning in her molten silver eyes, "This is him, the bastard that killed my mom!" She yelled.

Everyone stood in a shocked silence at the revelation, all staring at Ruby with open mouths. All except Neo, whose eyes were locked onto Azure and was shaking with fear. Neptune noticed this and tried to wake Neo from her trance.

Azure looked around wildly at the group of huntsmen in training, he knew that no matter how skilled he was, there was absolutely zero chance of him being able to fight his way out of this situation with his injuries. Suddenly a plan came to mind, _"The strength of her silver eyes was strong enough to overpower me. If she can do that, she might be strong enough to-Yes! This might just work out in the end after all!"_

Azure donned his usual cocky smirk as he rose to his feet, heaving his brother and lackey's bodies over his shoulder as he did. "Well this has been quite the impressive show this evening, but I fear I must exit stage left right about now." He locked eyes with his new archenemy, Ruby Rose, "If you really want to know why your mother had to bite the dust then I suggest you meet us in the _'Cave of Vices and Virtues'_ In eastern Vacuo." He turned his head to look at Neo, Nora, and Ren, "I believe you three know that area quite well, you'll gladly guide them there, won't you? My dear Vanila." His eyes lingered on Neo who fainted upon eye contact and had to be caught by Neptune to avoid falling on the pavement.

Azure chuckled, as he looked around at the ragtag group of kids that dared to stand in the way of his greatness, "Thank you all for attending my return to the big stage this evening! I do hope we meet again, you have all been a truly wonderful audience, but now I must bid you all-"

He shook his hips and struck a pose with his mic, "-Adieu!" He snapped his fingers and the remaining dust around the battlefield turned into a misty cloud. When the dust cleared, Azure and his compatriots were gone, leaving the students battered, bruised, and exhausted. A tired and empty silence fell across the courtyard.

Team RWBY and their friends had traveled a long way to Haven in hopes of finding answers, but all they managed to find was a maze of new and dangerous questions. Their journey, was just getting started.

….

Yang opened her eyes to the sound of sizzling bacon and and grunge music coming from the kitchen, Damn that smells good, she thought. She rose out of her bed, letting her long blonde hair fall behind her back. Some of it fell in front of her face and got in her mouth, which she groggily moved away with her right hand, Wait WHAT?!, she swung her head around and stared in awe at the painted yellow robotic arm that extended from the stump of her arm. Yang had completely forgotten about what Mercury had done for her before she passed out, and she just sat staring at it for what felt like hours.

Mercury opened the door holding a tray of bacon, toast, and eggs and set it on the dresser, "Ah you're finally awakHURGH-"

He grunted as Yang tackled him to the floor in a bone crushing hug. He looked awkwardly at Yang before laughing, "Well this is the first time I've been under a blonde but I won't complain," he said jokingly.

Yang didn't even care about the joke. She looked up at him with tears streaming down her face as sobs wracked her body, "Thank you, just, Thank you," she said, her voice cracking. She buried her head in his shoulder and continued to cry. Mercury's face changed from its usual smug smile into an awkward blush. It had been a long time since someone had treated him like a human, and he wasn't sure how to react to the mushy sentimental side of his patient. He returned the hug and patted Yang's back.

They lay there for a while before Mercury broke the silence, "Yeah this is real touching and all but I actually cooked a big breakfast and it's probably getting cold," he said casually.

Yang released her death grip and slowly got up off of the gray haired boy, hanging her head with her hair covering her eyes. She grabbed a single piece of bacon and ate it in three bites before immediately walking over to her bed. She quickly began stuffing her clothes and belongings into the bag she had brought with her before slinging it over her shoulder and exiting the room. Mercury still hadn't gotten up yet and just looked on as the blonde brawler stalked out of the room and left the house. He scrambled to his feet and ran after her.

"Yang what in hell do you think you're doing?" Mercury shouted as he ran out the door, "Where do you think you're going?"

Yang stopped. She turned around and looked at him with sad eyes, "I need to get to Haven. That's where my sister went. I need to find her," she turned around and began walking again, her hair flowing behind her, not even combed like it usually was.

Mercury didn't stop there, "So what? You think you can just crash at my house, eat my food, have me make you an arm, then go commit suicide via stupid heroics? I don't think so. You don't know what the people you're fighting are capable of, the weakest one of them could kill you ten times over without even breaking a sweat. You can't even beat me," the silver boy said angrily, "You leave, you die."

Yang stopped once again. She walked over to a tree and set her bag down at the base of it. The blonde haired huntress in training stood across from Mercury, they locked eyes. Mercury looked in, expecting to see anger or sadness, but saw nothing but pure determination, "I beat you before." she said, voice filled with intensity.

Mercury laughed, "You think it's a coincidence that you were only one percent away from losing? You only won because Cinder wanted you to, if that wasn't in the plan, I would've mopped the floor with you so much it wouldn't have even been a contest," Mercury said bitterly.

Yang stormed out of the cabin, a curios Zwei at her heels. The late winter air was biting but had a strange energy to it, like at any moment the snow could melt and give way to beautiful spring. All it needed was a spark, a chance. She slowly got into a fighting stance, clenching and unclenching her new fist, "How about this," she said cockily, "We fight. You win? I stay, but if I win…"

Mercury took his stance. Her meaning was clear, "Alright blondie, you're on, I Promise I won't break your neck."

Yang scoffed, "And I promise not to break your leg."

"I'm going to kick your ass" he retorted.

"Not if I kick your's first."

The two took their positions, slowly circling each other. It was Yang who made the first move. She launched herself forward and wound up to punch Mercury. The silver boy smirked and instantly met her with his foot. Before she could react he spun around and kicked her with his other leg, sending her flying into a tree trunk. She quickly recovered and used her gauntlets to propel her back in front of Mercury. She played her element, delivering countless punches in quick succession. Mercury struggled to block all of them and took several hits to his aura before he saw an opening. He took it and kicked Yang in the side of her knee, causing her to buckle and fall. Mercury dealt another hard kick to the side of her head. He did a flip and brought his heel down to what was supposed to be the top of her skull, but she rolled out of the way just in time.

Yang realized that there was no way she was winning like this and switched up her style. She got low to the ground, dodging a high kick from Mercury before sweeping his legs out from under him. As he fell, she punched him so hard he was knocked back up onto his feet. Yang leapt into the air, spinning around and trading technique for raw power as she gave him a massive right hook that sent the silver boy reeling. Yang pressed her advantage and got into the close range. She threw a flurry of punches at Mercury, not connecting with many, but enough to deal some damage. She realized that playing it safe wasn't working, he could dodge and block and make this fight go all day. She needed to deal hard hits when she could and put as much force behind them as possible. She switched things up again and kneed Mercury in the stomach, setting up for a big punch. Her right arm shot forward, but Mercury was ready. He ducked under the blow and did a wide flip, catching Yang in the chin, sending her flying into the air. He jumped after her and kicked her in the stomach while still in the air, sending her crashing into the ground.

Yang back flipped onto her feet and shot a few rounds from her Ember Celica and her new gun arm. Merc avoided the attack and charged forward. Zwei barked tentatively, unsure of who to cheer on.

Merc tried to sweep Yang's feet out from under her but she launched herself upwards to avoid it. Her rival jumped back to avoid her punch on the descent. She leapt back to her feet and went in with a flurry of punches. Merc, having gotten back into the grove of battle, easily blocked all her punches and kicked her in the gut. She staggered backwards in pain, allowing Him to press her defenses to the point of breaking.

 _"This is bad"_ thought Yang, the realization that Merc might actually be out of her league finally sinking in. All she could do is bide her time till an opening presented itself. There it was, Merc had missed an attack with his right leg, leaving his torso vulnerable. Without giving it a second thought, Yang went in for a right hook. Merc smiled at the blonde for having taken the bait. He spun around and kicked her in her now exposed thigh with his left foot.

She fell backwards onto her butt, hair dangling in front of her now red eyes. Merc sighed, "You fall for almost every trap your opponent gives you, that's your greatest weakness, you don't think, you take everything at face value and don't see the bigger picture. Cinder will take advantage of that, she will lull you into a false sense of security, then she will slaughter you like livestock."

Yang tried to get up but Merc was playing dirty. He kicked her back to the ground and continued his assault while she was unable to defend herself. Zwei barked angrily at Merc to try and get him to stop, but a Merc wouldn't.

She had the same fiery determination he had, the same one Coral had, the same one Sienna had. That determination was what drove them to protect the village in their father's stead. It's what got them killed. It's what made Merc side with Cinder, what tricked him into giving rise to a tyrant that would be worse than any before. _"Determination"_ was only good for getting people killed. But it wouldn't kill him and it wouldn't kill Yang. He was going to take it away from her, crush her delusions of saving the world. He was going to stop her from making the same bleeding heart mistake he made, even if he had to beat the reality check into her thick skull.

One of his kicks hit metal and caused him to look down. Yang was panting and spitting up blood, but she had managed to block an attack with her new arm. Her eyes filled with the fiery rage of her semblance, _"Check and Mate"_ he thought.

In a blind fury, Yang lashed out with punches that would blast a hole in a deathstalker hid, each one telegraphed, sloppy, predictable. Merc casually dodged all her attacks while giving her a look of disappointment. _"Why? Why can't I hit him? I-I just need to punch more, punch harder!"_ She thought.

Punch after angry punch was thrown at the silver blur but to no avail. _"Is this my limit? Is this the end of my rope? Am I really going to have to give up and leave everything to Ruby? Will I never prove to Blake that I can protect her?"_ She thought. With every pointless attack she saw a memory of a problem she couldn't punch away dance before her eyes. Her father's depression, her little sister's attempts to smile when it was all too obvious to her that she was miserable, Roman's lucky on the train, her incarceration, Adam. Each one an impenetrable wall that imprisoned her in her own inadequacy.

Her futile punches slowed down till she just gave up her assault entirely. Merc sighed, "So you finally get it do you?" He asked triumphantly. Yang refused to speak and instead continued to stare at the ground in silence. Merc didn't take kindly to being ignored and stepped closer, "WELL DO YOU?"

He kicked her into the air with all his might. She felt her rag doll body suspend in mid air at the top of her ascent, the sun so bright and close it felt like she could reach out and touch it. But the sun was hot, it burned everything around it with no self restraint, just like her. She was reminded of a story she read to Ruby when she was a kid, the tale of of a boy named Icarus who was so arrogant he flew up to touch the sun, only to have his wings burned and be sent plummeting to the ground and his death. Yang now fully understood that story, she was Icarus and the sun, she was the fire and victim. In the end she only had herself to blame for the burns life gave her. She was a raging fire that no one could hold, not even herself.

As she began to fall, her determination, her wings, burned in her own fiery emotions. She felt so tired, so defeated, she closed her eyes, _"Merc will catch me, he will take me inside, and we'll have bacon and eggs. I'll listen to his crude jokes and he'll groan at my puns."_ She thought. _"Maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe, I can get used to staying here with him. Both of us wallowing in our failures, hiding from the cruel world, maybe...I can forget about Ruby, about Blake."_ She felt herself drifting off to sleep. _"Blake…Blake...Blake? Blake!"_

Yang's eyes shot open at the thought of her partner, _"I can't lose, I need to find Blake! I need to tell her I'm sorry, I failed to protect her, I have to make up for it!"_

(Fury Sparks from Tales of Vesperia begins playing)

She turned herself around mid fall to see the approaching ground, _"Let's go Yang, I have a lot of work to do."_ She punched the ground with all her might and sent Merc flying backwards from the shockwave.

He landed with his feet against a tree, "So you still have some fight in you? Then I'll just beat you into submission again!" He propelled himself forward at mock speed with a shot from his boots.

Yang shot herself forward just like a Merc had predicted, "Still dumb as a brick eh? Well then this will be-"

Yang fell down on her knees and slid underneath Merc, _"What!?"_ He thought.

She grabbed him by the leg and body slammed him into the ground with the strength of a Goliath. Now with the upper hand, she proceeded to slam Mercury into the ground repeatedly.

Merc shot himself loose with his greaves and kicked Yang across the face. The golden haired girl seemed unfazed by it and launched a barrage of bullets at Merc in close range. He went into kick with his left leg, another feint to abuse her angered state. But much to his shock and horror, Yang didn't fall for it, instead she did something he thought she was incapable of when her semblance was active. She retreated.

She went on the defensive then came in for a right hook. Merc went to block it with his arm but she pulled back the attack. Before he could react, she uppercutted him and topped it off with an elbow to the gut. _"She baited me!? She's actually strategizing?"_ He thought in amazement. The blonde bulldozer had never put more than a second's thought into an attack. For once her assault was unpredictable.

The whirlwind of fake outs and carefully planned strikes wore down Merc's aura to dangerously low levels. 50%, 40%, 20%, It was now or never. Merc spun into a breakdance and threw volley after volley of bullets at Yang. She blasted through ones that she could stop but dodged the ones she couldn't, picking fights wisely, a new concept for the brawler.

She was closing the distance between them, only a few feet from victory. That was until one of the projectiles slipped through her blind spot and gave her a nasty hit. Merc noticed this and grabbed her before suplexing her into the ground. He kicked her once more into the air then shot her into a tree, breaking her aura and ending the fight.

(Music stops)

Merc dropped to his knees panting, "I….win…." he said. He looked up at his opponent, she was slumped against the side of the tree, eyes obscured in shadows by her dangling bangs. "Look Yang, I'm sorry, I just-"

Zwei began barking and waddled over to Yang's side and began licking the dirt off her legs. Yang started to laugh, "That was a the greatest fight of my life Merc! I've missed the thrill of battle! I feel more alive than I have in-NO ZWEI, STOP! THAT TICKLES, HAHAHAHAHAHA!" She grabbed the little corgi and hugged it tightly, partly to express her happiness but mostly to use the poor animal as a towel.

She stood up, still giggling profusely, "Welp, gotta get going, can't leave sis waiting forever can I?" She grabbed her backpack and patted Zwei on his furry little head.

Merc almost didn't register her response, "Wait what? I won! I proved that you won't last two seconds against Cinder and her allies! Why are you still going?" He asked, more than a little angry at her stubbornness.

Yang sighed, "It doesn't matter if I can't win. I have a sister out there that needs her big sis and a cute kitty cat that needs her partner, oh and Weiss I guess." She waved good-bye and began to walk towards the trail leading away from the cabin.

Merc stared at the back of her head, dumbfounded, _"Idiot, idiot, idiot! Did I give her a concussion? If they dared to cross Cinder than her friends are probably charred carcasses by now! She has to know that! Why does she-"_

He looked down to see a tattered photo lying on the ground next to him. It had fallen out of his pocket during the fight, he picked it up with shaking hands and held it close. The faded image of Fras, Coral, and Sienna seemed to be falling apart more and more each day, the colors growing blurrier and blurrier. Fras was almost completely burned out of the picture. Coral's once vibrant and expressive hair was now a blob of unremarkable grey, her trickster smile now unseeable in the picture's bland texture.

And Sienna….her perfectly styled hair that bobbed down the sides of her face had lost all detail.

The only thing that remained untouched were her eyes. Her beautiful looked directly at Merc through time and space. The naturally curious glance seemed to size him up. Wondering if the pathetic waste of skin she was looking at was really the man she had fallen for. He shoved the image in his pocket, unable to bear the scathing eyes of a life gone by. He got up and walked back into his cabin, his own little isolated prison of regret, and shut the door.

(The credits would start to roll at this point and "I'm Not Calling You A Liar" from Dragon Age 2 begins to play)

(Post credits scene)

Yang stood once again in the middle of the woods on a beaten down path and trying to read a rusty old directional sign, "Here we are again" she muttered in frustration. Zwei barked happily regardless of his master's mood, making her smile. "Thanks Zwei, you always know how to cheer me up!"

A sly chuckle came from behind the two, "But a smile isn't going to point you in the direction of civilization" said the voice.

Yang spun around in surprise to see her silver haired rival standing behind her, backpack slung over his shoulder and map in his hand. "Mercury! What are you doing here?"

Merc laughed, "Please, your hopeless without me. If I let you leave by yourself you would get lost and die of starvation out in the woods, something that you appear to be in the process of doing." He shook his backpack and Yang heard the sound of metal parts clanging together, "Besides, your going to need a mechanic around once you inevitably break that new arm or lose another limb."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Abrasive as always it seems"

Merc shrugged, she looked at him with a curious gaze, "Why do you want to come? You said it yourself, this is a suicide mission if there ever was one, so why?" She asked.

Merc sighed, "Eh, sitting around all day and licking my wounds sounded boring, and I can think of worse ways to die than ruining being a pain in Cinder's ass" he said with his iconic cocky smirk.

Yang laughed, "Yay, now we get to die together!" Zwei barked happily, prompting another round of laughter to erupt from both Merc and Yang.

She looked the silver mercenary over. He had a truly different air about him, instead of his depressing defeatist attitude, he radiated a surprising amount of confidence. Yang smiled, "Let's go save the world! No one can stop this Cripple Threat!" She raised her robotic hand and pointed at Merc's legs. "Get it? Because we're both-"

Merc sighed, "I get it, I'm just disappointed in you" he said.

Yang frowned, "Shut up! They can't all be gems!"

"Let's just go to Haven already"

"Pffffftt, hard ass" she said, laughter filling her voice once again.

(End of Volume 4)

...

...

 **A/N I can't thank you all enough. This is my first fic on this site and I'm glad that some people are enjoying it. I will be taking a hiatus for a while now that my current story arc is done. In a few days I will rename this fic to "RWBY: The Path We Walk."**

 **Also between now and the start of my volume 5, I will release a special chapter called "The Birth of CFVY" that will be a flashback to team CFVY's initiation. Since that team will play a large role in the story to come please check it out! And make sure to leave your review!**

 **cover art belongs to TyberZann2814 on deviantart**


	17. Special Chapter: Birth of CFVY, Part 1

**AN: This is part one of the two part "Birth of CFVY" Special chapter that takes place during Team CFVY's initiation. Their team will play an important role later in the story so I felt the gap between volumes was a good place to put it. Hope you like it!**

...

"I'll be ok mom" said Coco lazily into her scroll for the twentieth time.

"I know, I know, just remember it's not too late to transfer to Atlas with your sister Java" said her worried mother.

Coco let out a small chuckle and responded sarcastically, "I thought you would be ecstatic to have at least one of your daughter's going to school on the same continent."

Her mother groaned, "I know, It's just there are so many of those, those, animals going to Beacon. There are practically no fanus going to Atlas academy, it would be so much safer there" she said.

Coco sighed, "Mom I'm not a little girl anymore, a couple Faunus don't scare me" she said.

Her mother sighed, "You're right, just promise me you'll be careful?"

"Of course mom. Ok good-bye." Coco hung up her scroll and returned her gaze to the airship window.

"Well that was one of the most racist things i've heard in awhile" said a voice.

Coco turned to look at the boy who had been sitting next to her for the past fifteen minutes. He had dark red hair and bright white eyes, and wore a sleeveless brown shirt that showed off the scars on his muscular brown arms.

She scowled, "And just how did you know what we were talking about, you creep?"

He shrugged, "Context clues, also I have REALLY good hearing" he pointed to his earlobe, "I can practically hear you blinking."

She rolled her eyes, "If you don't like what you hear then just go sit somewhere else."

The boy laughed, "Did I also mention that I have an amazing sense of smell? To me this whole ship smells like a dirty locker room in the middle of a heat wave." He motioned his hand around the ship to show her.

There were about 2 dozen people all crammed into the relatively small room, some of which were in full body armor. One guy who must have been 7 feet tall looked especially uncomfortable, being stuck in between several other burly men. The guy was telling the truth, the place really did stink.

"I just sat here because it smells the least repugnant, you can blame your perfume and that coffee in your hand for that" he said.

Coco stared at the stranger curiously as she took a sip of her coffee, "Well it's either you put up with mine and my family's opinions or you go sit with the sweaty jocks over there" she said, more than a little annoyed

The boy was going to retort but the ship began to dock at Beacon, "Whatever" said Coco as she got up to leave.

Once outside the ship, Coco inhaled the cold fresh air of the mountains and smiled as she looked up at the bright and imposing CCT tower. She gripped her handbag tightly, "Time to show this school that Coco Adel is a force to be reckoned wit-" She was unable to finish her train of thought because she was knocked clean off her feet by a fast running student.

"I'm so sorry! I'm just really late, oh god I'm sorry!" Said a nervous girl's voice.

The boy with the scars and the 7-foot tall guy helped Coco and the girl who ran into her up to their feet.

Coco chuckled, "Don't worry, we're huntsmen after all, if we got hurt from falls like that then the world would really be in trouble."

The girl chuckled in response, "You dropped your backpack when we fell, here you go!" She said.

Coco reached out to grab her bag but froze when she got a good look at the girl. From the face down she looked normal, she was roughly Coco's height, brown hair and eyes, pretty cute, but the ears…

Coco's heart began to race and she could feel herself breaking into a cold sweat. The girl had ginormous rabbit ears that protruded out of the top of her head and twitched constantly. The girl gave her a curious look, "Um...are you feeling ok?" She asked.

Coco couldn't speak, she thought she would have been ready to face her fears but now that she was starring a fanus down in close rang she panicked. Before the girl could say another word, she broke into a dead sprint away from her and never looked back. A few tears rolled down her cheeks, _"I'm sorry dad, I can't face them for you"_ She thought.

…

Despite the fiasco earlier, Coco was having a wonderful night. Her and her new classmates were spending the night in the Beacon ballroom as a bonding exercise thanks to their new headmaster, Ozpin. Coco liked the way he thought, also she respected him for his obvious addiction to coffee, something the two had in common. She was sitting down in her chocolate brown pajamas in the corner of the room. She was sipping her nightly cup of Jo and enjoying the gun show being given off by the boys, the seven foot tall boy from the plane ride was surrounded by girls trying to feel his muscles. The big oaf was blushing and unable to get out a single word.

After the crowd of girls (and a few guys) started to reach critical mass around them, Coco turned her attention to something else.

She gazed longingly at the picture on her phone that she used as motivation every day to keep going. It was taken twelve years ago on her family's' vacation to see the ruins in the Vacuan desert. She was sitting on her sister's lap in the center of the image, her light brown hair braided like a princesses', her first cup of coffee held lovingly in her five year old hands. Her sister Java wore a smile wider than any Coco had ever seen, and had hair and eyes the color of lava. Most sentimental of all in the picture was the sight of her mother and father. Papa Adel was a burly man with wind whipped hair and a positive disposition, her mom was leaning up against him with one of the last true smiles she ever held. Her perfect black bangs dangling in front of her almond eyes. This picture was the epicenter of Coco's happiness, a still screen shot of her wonderful life before the bloody _"Righteous Crusade"_ the White Fang leader went on burnt it all to the ground.

While Coco stared, mesmerized by the image, she heard a friendly voice come from next to her, "Hey there you are, I've been looking for you all day, you dropped your backpack earlier and I needed to…" Coco looked up at the source of the voice and froze.

It was the rabbit faunus from before, she was trying to give her back her lost backpack and was apologizing profusely for running into her, but Coco didn't care. She felt her heart racing and time slow down around her. She needed to run and hide, get as far away from this girl, this unknown threat that lurked over her, hiding behind a cute smiling face.

"Well It seems you two have finally hit it off" said another voice.

Coco snapped out of her trance and glared at the source, the red headed boy from the ship, "What do you want?" She said, doing everything in her power to avoid looking at the Faunus girl.

He chuckled, "Sensitive nose, room full of sweaty teenagers, your coffee and perfume the only thing that doesn't make me want to gag" he said.

Velvet chuckled, "Your sarcasm is boundless Fox"

Fox shrugged, "I try" he said as he sat down cross legged on the floor.

Coco took the bag from Velvet when she wasn't paying attention, "Thanks, you can go now" she said coldly before she gulped down some more of her coffee.

Velvet sighed and was about to walk away before she laid eyes on Coco's handbag, "Is that a collapsible mini-gun!" She squealed.

Coco nearly jumped out of her skin at the Fanus' enthusiasm, "Y-yeah, it is" She said, clutching her handbag and now unable to avoid looking into the girl's eyes.

Velvet smiled, "That's incredible! It would take top tier Atlas specialists to make something like that, and you were able to make it yourself? You must be a prodigy!" She said, her infectious enthusiasm putting Coco on edge.

"A-actually, it's a hand me down from my dad, he taught my sister how to use it, and she taught me" She said, doing a poor job trying hide the anxiety that her Faunusphobia was giving her.

Velvet, as deaf to subtext as always, continued her nerdy ramble, "Well even if you didn't make it, it's still an amazing looking weapon, I hope to see it in action tomorrow!"

Coco wanted to say something like, "You'll see it in action now if you don't step away from me!" but she felt a lump in her throat go dry and she couldn't talk.

The rabit girl continued to smile, "It looks so intricate, your father must be an amazing engineer."

Coco felt something crack inside her, the fragmented memories of her, her sister, and her father working on the weapon, his masterpiece, "The Creme De La Creme" As he named it. These happy memories stained with blood bubbled to the surface of her thoughts and burned like spilt coffee. She grit her teeth as she screamed on the inside, "It's those animal's fault those are tainted, it's their damn revolution's fault that my family is in shambles. It's all their fault and one has the GALL to compliment him!?" She felt like she was about to erupt with a fury of emotions but managed to halt herself.

She rudely pushed Velvet away and got up, "Don't talk to me again" she said in a tone colder than any ice. Her chocolate brown eyes bore into Velvet and left her paralyzed, like a deer in the path of a moving car, until Coco finally broke eye contact and walked away.

When she was finally out of sight, Velvet crumpled to the ground with a defeated sigh, "Why does every cool looking person I meet have to be racist" she mumbled under her breath.

"Ouch" Said Fox sarcastically.

Velvet blushed, "Oh no, no, no! You and Yatsu are great and i'm glad I met you two, it's just that…"

"That we're not 10/10 bombshells that smell like fresh chocolate and wield collapsible mini-guns?" Asked Yatsuhashi as he stepped into Velvet's view and sat cross legged near her.

Velvet's blush darkened, "I guess you could say that" she said meekly.

Fox and Yatsu both let out a hearty laugh, "So Yatsu, have you come over here to get Velvet and I to join your harem?" Said Fox teasingly.

Yatsu blushed, "Please don't, those girls are like vampires, I had to fool them into thinking I'm gay just to get them to leave me alone."

Fox chuckled, "Trick as old as time."

He turned his attention to Velvet who was still looking glumly down at the floor, "Hey don't let what she said get to you, she might not be able to accept you, but the two of us sure can!"

Velvet smiled, "Thanks, it's just hard to have all these doors closed just because I have an extra set of ears" she said.

Yatsu shrugged, "She's just scared, a lot of people are given how violent the White fang has been getting recently. Everyone's worried that if things escalate more we could have a repeat of what happened twelve years ago."

Velvet and Fox shifted uncomfortably, "The Three Month War" was a touchy subject for a lot of people. Twelve years ago a protest regarding labor conditions for fanus in Schnne mines in Atlas turned violent. The fanus blood spilt in the fighting caused most members of the peaceful White Fang to call for retribution, and thanks to the racist ramblings of one _"Lord Damu,"_ hatred and mistrust ran rampant between humans and faunus for three months.

If it wasn't for the betrayal of a few high ranking members of the White Fang that lead to Damu's incarceration and the pacification of the whole movement, it would have quickly escalated into full scale war. Things had become peaceful afterwards, but thanks to a new, equally racist, leader, the White Fang had returned to terrorism.

"That's no excuse!" Said Fox angrily.

"If you're going to hate the White Fang then do it! I do and so does everyone else, but there is no reason to bring blame on innocent people!"

Fox sighed and spoke in a far more subdued tone than before as he absently rubbed the scars on his arm, "There is no reason to keep hating."

Velvet and Yatsu exchanged worried looks, "Fox if there is anything on your mind…"

Fox broke out of his daze and blushed in embarrassment, "Well this is no time to be talking politics, we're warriors and we have a mission tomorrow, good night!" He said cheerfully as he laid down on the floor.

Within seconds he was out cold and snoring, leaving Velvet and Yatsu alone to wonder just what exactly Fox had gone through, "Good night Velvet" Said Yatsuhashi halfheartedly.

Velvet sighed, "Good night Yatsu."

…

Coco sat in alone in the dark, all of her fellow students already fast asleep in this sleeping bags strewn across the floor. It was already midnight and she was wide awake, she took a sip of her now cold coffee and sighed as the caffeine in her drink slid down her throat and her aura sparkled a hazel brown. She felt a tingle of energy spread throughout her cold body as the liquid revitalized her. Some of her training partners back at Spruce combat school had made fun of her semblance for how useless it was but to her it was perfect.

While most people drink coffee and use caffeine to keep themselves from sleeping Coco's semblance did something to take that to the next level. Her semblance was capable of taking any form of caffeine she ingests and gives her all the benefits of sleeping. That's right, every single benefit that sleep gives a person could be completely supplied to her simply by drinking coffee, without any physical downsides. Due to this, Coco found herself conscious 24/7. Her doctors told her that it was unnatural and that even if she didn't require it she should give her mind at least some rest, but she never listened to them, they didn't know what she always went through when she slept.

The one problem she always had with not sleeping was how lonely the nights were. All those people around her, and none that could keep her company (And the fact that Yatsuhashi slept with his eyes open didn't make her feel any more comfortable.) So to pass the nights away she had learned to put herself in a type of trance. She would spend hours and hours staring blankly at any object, her watch, her mug, her shades, or most common of all, her phone. The family photo that she had spent countless hours analyzing, every inch of it completely foreign to the life she now lived.

These nights, while criminally boring, were her bastion of sanity. No world to wear her down, no depressing family life to be concerned with, no faunus to hide from; just Coco, her coffee, and silence.

However that night something happened, something that had only happened to Coco a few times during her years as an extreme insomniac. That night she had gotten so deep into her trance that before she could stop herself, she found herself losing consciousness, _"NO!"_ She thought as she drifted into the void of sleep.

…

Coco could feel herself suddenly trapped inside the body of her four year old self, huddling against the chest of her six year old sister. Her mother was pacing nervously back and forth while clutching a handgun. Mumbling over and over again, "This can't be happening, this can't be happening."

Her once perfect designer clothing was tattered and had bloodstains spread across them. Java was sobbing and holding her so tight she could barely breath, Coco wasn't crying however, the fear she was feeling froze her in place.

There were people, employees, family friends, scattered across the floor, not moving. They were dead but at the time she was too young to understand that concept, and why should she? No preschooler should have to confront mortality.

 _"Why is the janitor lying down like that? Who else will clean up all the red paint on the floor? Why is the nice lady from the front desk covered in red? Did she spill the Kool Aid she was making for us on herself? Why is uncle Nickle so quiet? He is always talking and making jokes! Why isn't he telling mom a joke to cheer her up. WHY IS HE NOT MOVING!?"_ The terrified little girl thought.

Young Coco looked to her dad for any semblance of hope. Whenever things were bad she could always talk to papa and he'd simply smile and say "Don't worry my little Milk Dud, it's gonna be all right." But one glance at her father told her that things had gone so far beyond bad.

His stylish blue suit was drenched in so much faunus blood that it was almost purple. His once clean and neat face was covered in dirt and scars that made him look like a solider from a war movie. His "Schnne Dust Inc." badge was no longer its pristine Snow White and was now redder than the setting sun.

He was breathing heavily and spouting swears angrily from his mouth while constantly going back to phrases like "Damn beasts!", "Bloody uprisings", "Useless White Fang", "All Damu's fault" as he held his back up against the metal door of the meeting room, from which the sound of gunshots and screaming to "Open up" were coming from the other side.

 _"More animal men"_ thought little Coco.

"The animal men were so nice before, why are they being so mean today?" She pondered.

There were several animal men and women lying on the ground in the meeting room. They had chased us into the room and started pointing their guns at them, _"Silly animal men, you're suppose to point those at monsters, not people!"_

Her dad had pointed his gun at them and made them fall down, _"Dad talked about this! This must be paintball! When the game ends everyone will stand up and start laughing, dad must just be mad because he is losing!"_ Thought the naive little girl.

Her dad yelled out to mom, "Kelly, take the girls and hide in the closet! I'll hold them off!"

Her Mom began crying, "This c-can't b-b-be happening! We were only doing our j-job! Why, oh god, why!?" She said, her whole body shaking like a tree branch in the wind.

Their father raised his voice, something he never did, "Please Kelly, our children need you!" he said, his normally stoic voice cracking.

Their mom nodded slowly and tried to gently herd Coco and Java into the closet. As she sat the two sisters down in their hiding place and began to close the door, "Wait mom please don't! I'm scared of the dark!" Screamed Java, hot tears streaming down her cheeks and into Coco's hair.

Their mom froze as she stared at her two precious daughters, desperate to take in every single perfect detail of her two angles, knowing that it could be very well the last time she would be able to see them. She tried her absolute hardest to smile, "You have to be strong Java, you're the big sister so you need to protect Coco." She let out a sob as a waterfall of tears came from her motherly eyes.

Java let out a sniffle and nodded. Their mother turned her attention to little Coco, "Please be good to your sister, and both of you remember, if a man who looks like an animal asks to come in, don't let him! Never trust any of those animals!" Coco and Java nodded in unison, taking their beloved mom's words of wisdom to heart.

The banging on the meeting room door grew louder and louder, their mom whispered, "I love you" and closed the closet just as the door burst open and the sounds of bullets flying filled the room with a cacophony of horror.

The ear piercing squeal of their mother as she was shot penetrated the two young souls to their cores and haunted them for years to come. The shouts from their father echoed through their skulls as his retaliations downed one rebellious animal after another, till all grew silent when the last body fell to the ground with an unceremonious thud.

Java and Coco sat in the pitch black closet in silence for what felt like an eternity, listening as they heard the panting of a single wounded man as he approached their hiding place.

"Are you kids in there? Your parents are hurt, I need your help to save them!" He said in a kind tone.

The two remained as still as stone until the man spoke again, "I'm not one of them, I just want to help, you can trust me" he pleaded.

Java slowly reached out her shaking hand and opened the door a crack. As soon as light drifted into the closet, the door was violently thrown open and a hand grabbed Coco. Java began shrieking and yelling for the animal man to put her little sister down. The man kicked her into the nearby table and she groaned in pain.

The man slammed Coco into the wall and pulled out a knife. Coco stared into his cold, cruel eyes as he readied himself to slit her throat.

"This is for all my brethren that your fucking parents worked to death!" He yelled.

Before he could deliver his revenge, a shot rang out from behind him and he crumpled to the ground, what was most certainly blood oozing out of his body.

Coco looked up in shock to see her older sister crying and shaking as she held a gun out to the man, she fell to her knees and began sobbing profusely.

Coco looked blankly around at the carnage in the room. A dozen more animal men lay dead on the floor in a heap, her mother was sprawled out on the ground with several bullet holes in her thigh, still breathing but passed out from shock.

She caught a glimpse of her father and joined her sister in crying, he lay in a pool of his own blood, eyes open wide and fixed in a single position, their once silky beauty already beginning to rust as any trace of life left his body. His mouth ajar as if to speak but nothing came out, his last words remained in his throat, never to be uttered.

The sisters pleaded with their deceased dad to do something that he would never do again, "Wake up dad! WAKE UP!"

…

Coco opened her eyes in a blind panic, nearly punching a nearby student's lights out. As she caught her breath she looked around wildly, she was back in the Beacon ballroom. She glanced at her watch, it was 2:00, she had been out for only ten minutes.

Coco sighed, tossing her phone into her purse, refusing to look at the photo that so often comforted her. _"I can't face them"_ she thought, tears in her eyes.

Coco laid eyes upon a student sleeping a dozen yards away, wrapped up in a warm blanket was the Faunus girl who confronted her was dozing off and enjoying her pleasant dreams. Velvet's adorable rabbit ears and idiot smile made it hard to believe that she could be capable of hurting anything.

Coco clenched her teeth, she knew that it had to be a lie, everyone else might buy her kind's little facadé but she wouldn't.

 _"Never trust any of those animals."_

Coco took a drink from her cold coffee and scowled, _"Needs more sugar"_ she thought.

...

 **AN: So in case I didn't make it clear, thanks to Coco's semblance, as long as she has access to Caffeine sleep is completely unnecessary to her.**

 **Tell me what you guys think, see you for part 2!**


	18. Special Chapter: Birth of CFVY, Part 2

**Sorry this this took so long, I had some bad writers block. Also I once again updated something on the WOR: White Fang. There was just one detail that I wasn't sure about so I changed it. Hope you like part 2!**

" _Now where in god's name could those ruins be?"_ Thought Coco as she landed gracefully into the Emerald Forest from her rude beginning to the entrance exam.

" _Is our headmaster a psychopath? I guess you have to be a little crazy to run this place"_ she thought.

She ran at a brisk pace through the undergrowth of the forest, the cup of coffee she had downed a few minutes before launch keeping her more alert and ready than half the students who were currently running off of an uncomfortable night's sleep in the ballroom.

" _Useless Semblance my ass"_ She thought smugly.

An incredibly stupid Beowolf charged out from a nearby bush and attempted to slice her in half.

Coco smirked and spun herself around, using her momentum to slam her overweight bag into the jaw of the Grimm. The beast went flying into the ground, allowing her to bring her weapon down on to it's skull, killing it instantly.

"Piece of cake" said Coco triumphantly as she saw the creature's body evaporate.

She heard gunshots and the sounds of dying grimm coming from a clearing to the east, nearly a dozen trees falling down from the battle, and body parts of Ursai flying into the air. " _Bingo_ " she thought, whoever was fighting had to be a skilled warrior like her, _"Maybe I'll get a decent partner after all."_

Her shining optimism left her when she found the source of the carnage, the annoying boy with milky white eyes was catching his breath while sitting on a tree stump in the middle of the clearing. His brow Tonfa blades sparkling in the sun.

Ozpin's voice rang through her head, " _The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years."_ Not wanting to be seen by "Snark incarnate" She tried to change her course and run right past him but tripped on a dissolving grimm arm and ended up bodyslaming into him.

The two sprawled out onto the ground, "I suspected you wanted me but not this much" he said jokingly as he helped Coco to her feet.

"Wait don't look me in the eyes! We'll be partners!" She said as she rose to her feet and started walking away.

"Not a problem hard to look someone in the eyes if you're blind" he said.

"You're blind?" Asked Coco, on instinct she turned around to question him but suddenly realized that in her curiosity, had made eye contact with him.

She groaned, "God Dammit!"

Her new partner sighed, "Well then I guess I better introduce myself. I'm Fox Alistair, it's a pleasure to meet you" he said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

…

Beacon most likely set a record for how fast Velvet found a partner. Upon being launched into the sky by her new headmaster, she activated her semblance and weapon in junction with one another and created a holographic parachute.

" _I knew taking a picture of that skydiver yesterday was a smart move!"_ She thought triumphantly.

She quickly scanned the tree line of the Emerald forest, taking in every detail of the landscape quickly, just like her training as a photographer, and her years surviving outside the walls of the kingdom, had always forced her too.

She could see a canyon with manmade structures jetting out of the sides at the fringe of her field of vision, "The ruins" she decided.

Several other students whizzed past her with their own, far more reckless landing strategies, one in particular had a very curious plan that involved flailing their arms around and scream. Unluckily for Velvet, that person just happened to be right above her. His weight broke her hologram and sent the two plummeting to the ground.

Velvet ended up being caught by a tree branch and being pecked at by a family of hawks, "Hey, I'm not food!" She yelled as she swatted them away.

Once the birds gave up on eating Velvet, they flew away, allowing her to jump down to the ground. The boy who had botched her landing strategy was none other than the inadvertent ladies man from the previous night, Yatsuhashi.

"Not very graceful huh?" Asked Velvet with a sly smile.

Yatsu sighed as he sprung to his feet, "Sorry about that, I didn't hurt you did I?"

Velvet let out a hearty laugh, "It'll take more than that to kill little old me! Now let's get going, partner!" She said with a wink.

…

After nearly three hours of wandering blindly through the Emerald forest with nothing but Fox's occasional snarky comment to entertain her, Coco began to lose her patience.

"Didn't we pass this tree like an hour ago? Yep same tree, were lost!" She sighed and let herself fall backwards onto the grassy ground.

Surprisingly Fox did not Chastise her for her bitter mood and instead hushed her and placed his ear on the ground.

Coco gave him a weird look but was grateful to be spared his grating sarcasm if only for a few moments. She reached into her backpack and lifted out a bag of coffee grains.

"This will have to do" she muttered under her breath as she opened the bag and tossed a handful into her mouth.

Immediately she felt her semblance kick in as the caffeine spread throughout her body and re energized her. She looked down at her watch "Already 4:00, we better hurry up or it'll be sundown before we get the relics, and I do not feel like camping out in a Grimm infested forest" she thought.

Fox sprung to his feet, "There is a fight nearby!" He yelled.

Coco dropped her coffee bag in surprise at her partner's sudden urgency, "What do you mean?"

He quickly grabbed her by the arm and dragging her to her feet, "Deathstalkers, a whole group of them, there is about eight other students fighting them as we speak but their losing, we need to go back them up!"

He started sprinting, forcing his aggravated partner to leave behind her coffee grains as she tried to keep up with him.

The two darted and weaved their way through the trees and the undergrowth till they reached a large clearing with what looked like a small ruined temple from an era gone by with strange chess pieces on circular pedestals, "The Relics!" Coco thought. There was a total of five death Death Stalkers facing off against retreating line of tired students. A buff female student with massive white hair named Jasper was knocked completely unconscious and was slung over the shoulder of another student was trying his best to fight the Grimm off while not dropping his friend.

Two other students, a boy and girl who looked as if they were twins, dodged attacks at lightning speed and combo attacked a deathstalker till its tail snapped off. The celebration of the victory was short lived as the enraged grimm crabbed the two and tossed them headlong into their allies.

The grimm hissed and advanced as the student's line of defense crumbled.

"Let's go!" Yelled Fox as he took off sprinting towards the fight. Coco unfolded her handbag into mini-gun mode and laid down covering fire on the grimm. She didn't pump her aura into her shots though, doing so would have done more damage but she would have drained her energy fast, risking her blacking out like she had done before when her aura broke.

The grimm recoil as her hail of bullets pounded down on them, denting their bone white shells. Even without the use of his eyes, Fox nimbly dodged the onslaught of strikes from his adversaries and stabbed the nearest Death Stalker in the eyes with his blades.

The monster squealed in agony, he leapt backwards to avoid another strike and landed gracefully on his feet, "It's not that bad you big baby, I fight blind all the time!" He said with a laugh, clearly enjoying the monster's anger.

Having regrouped, the other students charged forward to retake the flow of the battle, a girl name Lazulus dodged the assault of the beasts as gracefully as Fox had and used her serrated blades to blind another Death Stalker. The beasts now severely weakened, several other students unleashed a volley of their own dust based attacks to overwhelm the creatures. Coco joined in as well by sending another wave of her own bullets.

After the smoke cleared three of the Death Stalkers were nothing more then dissolving pies of limbs and the other two were scared out of their wits. Coco was about to toss her hands in the air in triumph but her joy was shattered completely as a deafening screech came from behind her. Before she could reach an Ursa blindsided her and knocked her into a nearby boulder.

Following the Ursa, an entire legion of Ursi and beowolves came surging from the forest towards the other students. The first Ursa charged towards Coco, hate in its eyes, the girl rolled away from the beast's attacks. She turned her weapon back into it's bag form and engaged her attacker, with one fluid and powerful attack to decapitate the Ursa.

As soon as the grimm went down three beowolves attacked in tandem. She bludgeoned one with another strike but the other two body slammed her into the dirt. She kicked them back with full force and lashed out again and killed another Beowolf but got hit by the other.

Just as the last grimm was about to pounce on Coco another student barged into the fight from the forest while bellowing a war cry. The sound caused the young grimm to cringe in fear before the boy grabbed it by the head and slammed it into the ground, following it up by bring a massive orange sword down on its neck.

The boy looked up at Coco and gave her an exhausted smile, "I'm Yatsuhashi Daichi, you can thank me latter" he said.

He pulled Coco to her feet and turned to join the now escalating fight down near the relics. Suddenly another batch of about a dozen grimm descended from behind them but right before Coco could stop them a flash of brown sped by her and sliced them all in two.

Coco looked towards where the flash ended up and saw the fanus from the day before standing triumphantly over the fading corpses of the grimm. A holographic copy of Yatsu's broadsword in one hand and panting wildly as if she hand just ran a three legged race. Her hair was a matted mess of hazel brown hair that drooped in front of her fierce yet kind eyes. Her bunny ears twitched back and forth with excitement as she scanned for her next opponent.

Coco's heart stopped with apprehension when Velvet's eyes landed on her, it took all of Coco's willpower to not let her fears take hold and attack the girl. Just as soon as they made eye contact Velvet let out an exhausted breath, "I'm sorry, this is our fault! We stumbled upon a pack of grimm and I accidentally stepped on a beowolves tail, oh god I'm sorry!" She said, a few tears rolling down her tired face.

For a second Coco's fears faded, _"This girl seemed so emotional, so human, was she really a monster?"_ She thought.

Coco's train of thought was however rudely interrupted by one of Fox's snarky remarks, "Less crying more killing!" He yelled as he snapped the neck of a Beowulf.

Yatsu lunged towards a nearby grimm and pounded it into the ground while letting out a deafening roar. Velvet immediately brushed off her tears and jumped into the fray, her holographic weapon having transformed into a copy of Fox's.

Coco was the last to rejoin the frenzied fight, she was fighting close range which gave her a distinct disadvantage. She dodged the attack of an Ursa and backhanded it with her purse, sending it toppling backwards and tripping over a nearby Creeper.

Several more grimm charged at her and she downed them all with a couple heavy strikes. The seconds seemed to crawl by, with each dead grimm it felt like another platoon came surging from the forest, their line of defense quickly crumbled and the group began to frantically retreat towards the ruin holding the relics.

Coco heard a hellish screech pierce her eardrums, causing her to recoil and, out of pure luck, narrowly dodge the claw of a Death Stalker. The beast was gravely wounded, one of Death Stalkers that they fought before Yatsu and Velvet brought the horde to them, and it was out for Coco's blood to avenge its friends.

The grimm sweeped its claw at her but she knocked the attack away with her weapon. The beast responded with another strike, this time Coco's block was not so effective, her handbag was heavier than it looked and she was losing stamina from the prolonged fight. The attack knocked her to the ground, she held up her bag in a pitiable attempt to shield her from it's fourth attack but luckily for her another student came to her aid. Standing above her, blocking the grimm's attack with her bare hands at the expense of a massive chunk of her aura, was Velvet. The tired fanus girl gave Coco a weak smile, "Don't worry, I'll handle this" she said with as much confidence as she could muster.

The Death Stalker abandoned it's assault for a moment to inspect the new challenger. Velvet's face hardened as she returned her gaze from Coco to her monstrous opponent. The impatient beast attacked but only managed to slice thin air, it looked around wildly to find that the nimble rabbit girl had leapt into the air and was right attop him. She extended her hand outwards and another holographic weapon materialized, a copy of Coco's handbag.

Velvet brought the ten ton hologram onto the Death Stalker's damaged hide and cracked it. _"She's using that thing just as good as I do, probably better even"_ thought Coco.

Velvet rolled to the side to dodge yet another futile attack from the beast. As the monster continued its pointless assault on the girl she slyly maneuvered around every strike, her long bunny ears flopping in the wind, her beautiful brown hair draping in front of her eyes.

Her eyes, her eyes were just like the eyes of the fanus who killed her family, filled with unwavering determination, and fixated solely on one goal. But there was one difference, Coco could sense no malice behind them, no hate fueling her attacks, instead it was something else. It was the far more like the look in her father's eyes, the look of someone who would risk everything to protect another.

 _"This fanus, this girl, is putting her life on the line to save me? A human?"_ Coco thought in disbelief.

Finally one of the Death Stalker's claws got a lucky hit and Velvet was sent head first into the ground next to Coco, but before the beast could finish them off, the ground began to shake and a large crack in formed underneath the monstrosity. The Death Stalker squealed as it's body fell into the shallow crack, lodging it in the ground, unable to flee.

Yatsuhashi came stomping into the fight, his sword drawn, and vibrations coming from each of his footsteps so strong they felt like mini earthquakes.

"That's Yatsu's semblance, " _Edaphokinesis_ " The ability to sense tectonic movement and manipulate the terrain" said Velvet through exhausted gasps.

Yatsu put his full weight into one massive swing of his broad sword and sliced one of the grimm's left claw clean off. It howled in a pained rage but was quickly silenced with a sickening crunch as Fox plunged his blades into its face. The beast went limp and Yatsu pulled Coco and a velvet to their feet, "We have to leave, like, right now!" He said worriedly.

More and more Grimm came barreling through the undergrowth around the clearing, several more Death Stalkers slowly lumbered forth from the tree line, ready to avenge their fallen comrades.

"We really opened a can of worms this time haven't we?" Said Yatsu darkly as he beat back an approaching Ursa, already too tired to use his semblance.

"It's not just us anymore" said Velvet, fear lacing her voice, "It's them" she said, pointing in the direction of the other students.

Half the group had already spent their aura reserves and were lying unconscious on the ground. The other half were battered and bruised and were desperately trying to hold a defensive perimeter around the wounded but were quickly being pushed back by the vicious tidal wave of Grimm.

"Their fear is attracting more Grimm, the more Grimm that come the more afraid they will become. It's a never ending cycle, were totally screwed" said Velvet, barely able to keep her composure.

Coco looked around the battlefield wildly in a vain attempt to find a solution to their problem. The four of them were isolated from the rest of the group and in surprisingly better condition than the others. None of the Grimm were paying much mind to them anymore, a combination of weariness about the four who killed a Death Stalker and the allure of the other students' despair.

"If we run now we can escape" muttered Fox morbidly.

It took Coco a few seconds for her partner's suggestion to sink in, "Are you crazy!? We can't leave are classmates here to die!" She yelled.

Fox looked up at her with a pained and hopeless expression in his milky white eyes, "There is nothing we can do to save them, I'm just trying to make sure at least a few of us don't get completely slaughtered!" He sighed and absently rubbed his scars, "Not everyone can be a hero."

"No!" Yelled Velvet, fiery determination returning to her eyes, "Hell if I'm abandoning anyone, there has to be a way!" Yatsu nodded vigorously in agreement with his partner.

Fox sighed again and muttered a few swears under his breath, "Stupid optimist, alright then what are we gonna do?"

Coco's eyes rested upon a large chasm at the edge of the clearing surrounded by ruins, "We can lure them over there" she said hastily.

Fox let out a strained laugh, "I knew you were crazy, I just knew it" he said.

Coco's handbag morphed back into its mini-gun form on command and she wasted no time blasting a volley of bullets into the hoard of grimm surrounding their wounded comrades to gain their attention.

"This plan sucks" muttered Yatsu as he mustered the strength to use his semblance again. He slammed his large blade into the earth and opened up a small chasm in between some of the Grimm and the other students.

Fox and Velvet followed suit by launching their own attacks at the horde to aggravate them even more. An Alpha-Beowolf let out a soulless cry that signaled the entire pack to take care of the unruly humans and faunus that dared distract them from their new meal.

"Run" yelled Coco as the first of the Grimm broke from the pact to attack.

The four broke into a dead sprint towards the other end of the clearing, "The staff at Beacon should be sending help by now, we just have to keep them busy for just a little while" thought Coco.

As Coco felt her energy begin to fade her senses started shutting down to reserve power. All feeling in her body seemed to melt away, the dryness of her mouth became unnoticeable, the sound of the army of Grimm hunting them like wild animals became muffled then we're finally muted, leaving only the sound of her beating heart and pumping blood to fill her ears. Tunnel vision began to set in and the only thing she could see were the ruins at the base of the cliff, inching closer to her with every stride.

The closer and closer the got to the structure, the more detail she could see. It appeared to be a massive cathedral of some kind, completely overgrow by ancient vines and Oak trees. The strange building was built partially into the ground and cliff (Which upon closer inspection was actually part of a long chasm). A chasm which cut deep into the heart Emerald Forest, a scar from nature's wrath over the millennia.

Surrounding the Cathedral was what looked like the ruins of a long forgotten city, the dilapidated remains of what appeared to be houses and stores lined the cities' tattered and overgrown cobblestone streets. Thanks to Coco's hyper focus on her destination, she failed to notice the vine bulging up from the road and stumbled to the ground. Pain reawakened her senses and gave way to fear as the bloodthirsty growls of their pursuers flooded her ears once again.

No sooner than she had hit the ground, Velvet and Fox were yanking her to her feet and almost dragged her into the courtyard of the church. They ran passed the haunting and decrepit tombstones that were longing for our company. Yatsu had already gone ahead and knocked the stone door of the church open.

After the three straggles stumbled into the building and collapsed onto the floor Yatsuhashi slammed the door tight and threw himself against it. For several agonizing minutes the rag tag team stared at the stone barrier, weapons drawn and ready to begin their final stand. But as time ticked by the sounds of Grimm quieted to a nervous cacophony of hisses and uncertain growls.

"Not to sound ungrateful but, why aren't they trying to rip us limb from limb?" Asked Fox.

Coco slowly moved towards the window and peaked outside so as to not be noticed. The small army of grimm had piled into the abandoned streets and surrounded the courtyard in a large black semi-circle. The murderous intent was a clear as ever in their unwavering eyes, however the horde was hesitant to pass into the ruined premise. Every few seconds a young grimm took a few tentative steps into the church grounds but was quickly yanked back into the sea of monsters by an older one.

"It's like they're, scared of this place. Why would they-"

Coco felt a shaking hand clutch her shirt sleeve, "C-c-c-coco, l-look!" Whispered the small and terrified voice of Velvet. Coco would have immediately shake the faunus off for getting to close but the sight the girl was pointing towards froze her blood.

The center of the Cathedral was a raised, circular, stone altar that spanned at least 5 meters across in diameter. At four points along the edge of the circle were four symmetrical crosses made from pure obsidian. The crosses stood upright and towered above the students, rusty iron shackles were fused to the jagged surface of the crosses with dust, spots of dried blood were barely visible if it weren't for the eerie glow of the dust.

"They crucified people at this church" said Yatsu in a hushed whisper, as if speaking the group's revelation any louder would cause the ancient shackles to come alive and bind them too the sacrificial posts.

The looming structures were not the only unsettling thing about the altar. Engraved upon the floor of it in multicolored dust was a strange insignia consisting of what looked like three half opened eyes turned at different angles making up the points of a triangle and several straight tendrils that jettisoned out from the third eye in the center and out towards the staircase that faced them.

"That's a symbol often used by cults in grimm worshipping ceremonies" said Velvet, punctuating her little fact of the day with a gulp of apprehension.

At the center of the altar, in the iris of the largest eye, was a single stone pedestal with a groove cut out on top that looked suspiciously like a chopping block where an executioner would carry out the death penalty on a condemned criminal.

The sadistic set up seemed to ooze pure negative emotion, like a horde of grimm, but far more concentrated. The sheer amount of suffering and death that must have happened upon the stone wasn't something that just went away after being left abandoned for a few hundred years. It was like a sickness, a festering blight that blurred the line between the worlds of the living and the departed, allowing for a torrential flood of negative emotions to flow neverending from the souls of the damned on the other side. Not even the boldest of grimm would willingly trespass on such tainted ground. This place was pure, unadulterated, evil, no doubt about it.

"Why the hell is that thing here of all places?" Asked Coco, barely audibly.

Velvet gave her her answer, although no louder than a squeak, "I had heard stories of old religions that believed grimm were god's form of salvation. That they would cleanse the world of weakness and leave behind a paradise for the strong. Those cults would gather hundreds of members, build massive "Utopias" once their kind grew numerous enough, and slaughter themselves in hopes that their suffering would feed and give rise to massive grimm to usher in mankind's judgement day. They called themselves-" She gulped before finishing,

 _"The Horsemen of the Apocalypse."_

The Cathedral fell into an even deeper and ominous silence than before, "But they don't exist anymore! Grimm worshipping in any form has been punishable by death around the world since the end of the Great War" said Velvet hastily, although her attempt to relieve the group was met with little response.

"We are leaving, right now" said Fox in an uncharacteristically calm voice.

Coco looked at her partner with concern, the boy couldn't see the monument to suffering before them but he had heightened senses, the suffocatingly oppressive atmosphere was probably far more unbearable to him then it was to the others.

She nodded affirmatively, "Let's look for an escape" she said.

Yatsu nodded his head in agreement and the team ran of to the other parts of the cathedral to search for a way out. The rest of the building was eerie, but nowhere near as disturbing as the center room. The stairs and upper floor were inaccessible do to wood rot and a dozen other obstructions. Once beautiful Murals and statues defaced and in pieces, scattered across the floor of the back rooms. The creepy basement offered little hope for an exit and as instead cluttered with what appeared to be small stone idols of grimm, most likely used in worship, and a boarded up stone well. One look at the decrepit structure told them that they would have to be clinically insane to attempt to go down it.

Coco soon found an old stone door at the farthest room in the church, upon opening it her heart sank. Sprawling in front of her was the massive chasm they had seen before, a string of other ruined temples were fashioned into the side of the cliff across the divide. Parts of ancient bridges extended to connect them together sprawled over the empty void, however the large bridge that connected the wretched cathedral they were in to the rest of the complex had eroded and fallen away, they really were cornered.

"Well fuck" muttered Fox.

Yatsu looked at Velvet with dismay, "Velv, can you still use that parachute? Can you get us across?"

Velvet fumbled with her camera and spoke rapidly, "Y-yeah, I took two pictures of the original just incase. But I need a lot of force to throw us upward for us to glide across!"

Yatsu sighed heavily and shook his head, "Ok you three, gather around, i'll throw you with all my strength, you should be able to get across."

Velvet looked at him, horror etched into her face, "You can't be serious! We are NOT leaving you behind!"

Coco stared at her new faunus ally, her disposition the complete opposite of any faunus she had ever encountered. She was emotionally and physically exhausted, shaking, tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of losing a friend. She was every bit as frail as she was, and at the realization of that fact, something slid into place inside Coco. She didn't know why she felt this way, but she knew that she would be damned if she'd see this girl cry anymore.

"I have a plan" she said with unusual confidence.

The tree gave her sceptical, yet hopeful glances, "What is it this time? You want me to kiss a frog or something?" Said Fox, genuine curiosity replacing his usual snark.

"I need Yatsu to throw us up to that balcony on that temple." She point at a large stone balcony jettisoning out of the top of a nearby structure, "From there I can have the perfect vantage point to unleash all my rounds" she said.

Fox rolled his eyes, "Yeah like that will put a dent in that monsoon on our front lawn" he said pessimistically.

Coco shook her head, "It will work, just trust me!"

Fox shrugged in compliance and Yatsu got ready to throw them, "I'll stay down here, it will be easier on the big guy to only throw two people, besides-" Fox absently rubbed one of his scars before continuing as if it had begun to ache, "If your plan fails I don't want him to face these guys alone."

The group gave him a surprised look before nodding in agreement, "Thank you" said Yatsuhashi with a warm smile.

Yatsuhashi grabbed Coco and Velvet around their wastes and got into position. Coco felt slightly uncomfortable with the closeness of the faunus, but the adrenaline of the situation was doing wonders at keeping her phobia in check.

"3...2...1!" Yelled Yatsuhashi, his aura flaring up as he tossed the two girls high into the sky.

Just as they reached the pinnacle of their ascent, Coco heard a large popping sound as Velvet's holographic parachute unfolded from the box on her back. Their descent slowed and allowed them to land safely on the balcony.

Coco ran to the edge to overlook the sea of monsters before her. The black tides of the army shifted to see her, many began growling fiercely at their fleeing prey.

"Good luck" said Velvet, a genuine smile of support on her face.

Much to Coco's surprise she found herself smiling back at her, but this wasn't the time for that, A large amount of the horde continued to ignore her and directed their attention squarely on the cathedral, several beowolfs were already nearing the stone door. Coco caught a glimpse of Yatsu and Fox on the ground below, the big lug had passed out from the stress of the aura consumption, and Fox was simply looking up at her, unable to see what she was about to do but still managing to send a silent message to her, telling her not to fuck up.

Coco changed her bag into its, mini-gun form and took a deep breath, _"Pump all your aura into this Coco, hold on and don't pass out, no matter what"_ she thought.

She angled her weapon down at the horde and slammed down the trigger. Dropping every ounce of her aura into her dust rounds she rained a destructive maelstrom down onto the helpless grimm. Ursi, beowolves, and Creepers alike fell indiscriminantly to her hail of bullets. The Death Stalkers in the group hardly fared any better. Thier thick hides rendered mute by their massive size, after seconds they shattered into pieces. By the time Coco's aura reserves dropped to zero and her barrell lay empty nearly all the grimm had been annihilated, leaving the few lucky survivors to scatter in terror.

Coco staggered backwards and looked towards Velvet, the faunus girl stared at her friend in amazement, "Holy crap, your ama-" but her praise was cut short by Coco's sudden need to pass out on the stone cold floor.

…

The hospital was busy that day, busier than it had been in years. Countless wounded humans and faunus were rushed back and forth through the halls. Somber tears and yelling came from every direction, a melancholy chaos that the remnants of the Adel family had come to remember so very clearly.

"To think you two made it out of that battle field with barely a scratch one you, someone powerful is looking out for you up there" said an old nurse as she wrapped gauze around Coco's broken wrist, her finger gingerly pointing upwards to signify what she was talking about.

Coco wanted desperately to yell at the nurse, ask why this person hadn't been looking out for mom or dad. But Coco knew better than to talk back to adults, her parents had raised her too well. Instead she let herself become fixated on her mother's heart monitor.

The strange line on the device fluctuated in a predictable, soothing, rhythmic pattern. The doctors had told the girls that her wounds weren't bad, and that she'd be waking up soon, but Coco didn't believe them. Her father, the janitor, the receptionist, the animal men, none of them woke up when they should have, what made them so sure that their mom wouldn't be the same? What was stopping her from leaving? What was to stop anyone from leaving?

Coco shrugged at the thought and tried to think about happy things, and clutched her sister's hand, hoping to feel the small bit of warmth that she shared with her mother. But something was wrong, there was no motherly warmth in her, only a cold biting anger. Her bright and happy face was now contorted into a scowl in the haunting likeness of the animal men.

After the nurse finished tending to her wound she said her goodbyes and scurried off to help a patient in the next room, leaving Coco alone with her mother and the strange person that seemed to have replaced her sister.

"Si-Sis?" Asked Coco, scared tears trickling down her cheeks.

Within seconds, Java's warm disposition returned and she smiled lovingly at her sibling, "What's wrong Cokes?" She said.

Coco may have been young, but she knew that something was still wrong, this chipper warmth wasn't normal. It was different somehow, like it was being forced, almost fake. Coco didn't bring it up, in fear that mentioning it would cause it to vanish completely and leave her with cold again.

"What 's going to happen now, I'm scared" she said.

Java pulled her precious baby sister in close for a hug, her mother's words ringing through her head. "You need to be strong Java, you're the big sister."

"Don't worry Cokes, the huntsmen stopped the Faunus, they can't hurt you any more."

"But what if they get passed the huntsman?" Asked Coco.

Java tightened her grip, "Then I will stop them, mark my words I will NEVER, let one of those things touch you again, I made a promise and I'm going to keep it!" she said, tears streaming from her eyes and soaking Coco's hair.

"Mark. My. Words."

…

Coco's body ached all over when she finally came too in the infirmary, her beret and lay on the bedside table, along with a fresh basket of cartridges filled with high quality dust rounds.

"They're a present from our new classmates" said a voice nearby.

Coco turned her head to see Velvet sitting in a chair next to the bed, smiling warmly and holding Coco's sunglasses in her hands.

With the adrenaline from the initiation having died down, her phobia kicked in once again, "T-those are mine!" She said as she quickly reached to grab them from her. The action caused a great pain to erupt from her shoulder and forced her to retract back before retrieving her eye-wear.

"You shouldn't move around to quickly, you really over exerted yourself there, here let me do the honors" Velvet stepped forward and sat on the bed. She leaned in slowly as to not provoke another flash of fear from Coco and gently eased the glasses onto her face. "There, they really do look great on you y'know?" Said Velvet with a dumb but admittedly cute smile.

Coco blushed in embarrassment, she was always self conscious about people seeing her without her glasses on. When they weren't resting on the bridge of her nose she felt completely exposed to the world around her. Suffice to say, she was grateful to have them back.

Sensing Coco's initial fear of her melting away, Velvet relaxed and continued, "As I was saying, we all chipped in to buy you some more ammo, you really did save everyone you know?" Said Velvet, her smile showing no sign of leaving her face.

Coco let out a little laugh, "Everyone chipped in? Even Fox? That ass wouldn't give me a single Lien even if I pulled him from the jaw of a King Taijitu!"

Velvet let out an amused laugh, "We kinda forced him into it, hooray for peer pressure I geuss?"

The two continued to laugh at their similar senses of humor before velvet's smile finally faded, "Look Coco, when you were out I did some research and well…" She rubbed her neck guiltily.

Coco looked down morbidly, "You found out what happened to my family" she said.

Velvet nodded solemnly, "It's ironic really, that you and I would meet here." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "After all, my parents are Penelope and Cedric Scarlatina, the masterminds behind the uprising at your father's mine."

An icy chill spread over the room and froze Coco in place, her heart rate kicked into high gear and she had to resist every instinct in her body telling her to throttle the girl in front of her. Something inside her, the same thing that gave her her second wind during the initiation, was telling her to let her finish.

"I don't expect you to hate me any less, in fact I don't blame you if you hate me even more, I just want to tell you that I don't support what they did." Velvet clenched her fists, "In fact I hate them for it, they threw their lives away, destroyed the lives of countless people and for what? To make everyone fear them? To screw over every decent Faunus who wanted to live in peace just so they could have some damn revenge?"

She took another deep breath and let the tension leave her body, "They never got to answer any of those questions, they both got themselves killed that day. However as luck would have it another family took me in, a human couple of all people" she smiled.

"Now that's real irony huh? A few humans, the very things my parents hated, were far more loving then they had ever been" she said with a dry and humorless laugh.

"The point I'm trying to make is that all of us, whether we are faunus or human, we all have done horrible things to each other, but we don't have to anymore y'know?" She looked at Coco with a sad but hopeful expression on her face, "Do we really need to keep fighting our parent's battles? I know it might be hard, after all hating someone is infinitely easier than forgiving them, but please, can you atleast try to look past my race? I'm begging you."

Coco was taken aback by her attempt to extend an olive branch, Velvet stared intently at Coco, her rabbit ears leaning back in suspense as she eagerly awaited her answer. Coco sighed and rubbed her temples, "Why does everything have to be so complicated?"

Velvet chuckled, "Well at least it makes life interesting, so is that a yes?"

Coco nodded, "Yes, it is, although if my mom or sister come to visit me you might want to keep this under wraps, I have a feeling their answer would be quite different."

Velvet nodded, "Gotcha, now how about I help you up, there are a lot of students that want to thank their savior themselves."

She reached out her hand and after only a moment of hesitation, Coco grasped it with her own. As the two slowly walked out of the infirmary and into the evening air Coco noticed something about Velvet, the warmth and happiness that she radiated, that seeped through her skin and into her own, it was the same that she had been missing since that fateful day, the same that she never thought she'd feel again.

…

Yatsu and Fox both leaned over the edge of the roof of the main Beacon building, taking in the beautiful sights of the academy grounds. Well at least Yatsu was, Fox only really did it to look edgy and cool to any girls that came walking by below.

"Team CFVY eh? I swear that headmaster is crazy, putting that racist caffeine addict as our leader? Bullshit" said Fox with his signature sarcasm.

Yatsu chuckled, "You and I both know that she is the best for the job."

Fox shrugged, "True, I'd get us killed by tomorrow."

Yatsuhashi handed him a can of "Everybody Likes Grapes" soda, "Cheers to not being dead then?"

Fox chuckled and accepted the can, "Cheers mate."

Yatsu took a swing from his own can then spotted their leader, fully conscious and taking her well deserved victory lap around the campus, Velvet keeping her from toppling over all the way.

"Looks like our leader's already conquered her fears" said Yatsu, smiling at the barely visible blush on both his teammate's faces.

Fox smiled, "I give them two years tops before they make out, how about you?"

Yatsu gave him a curious glance, "Wait I'm confused, aren't you blind?"

Fox laughed, "I can smell the sexual tension from here."


	19. Chapter 15: A Rock and A Hard Place

**Welcome back everyone to Volume 5! (Insert Final Fantasy victory fanfare). The upload schedule will probably be a bit more sporadic from here on but don't worry, I'm not giving up on this story any time soon. Hope you enjoy and as always please tell me any thoughts you have on it. I am positively dying for some feedback from you guys. So without further adieu, I give you Volume 5, chapter 1: A Rock and A Hard Place**

Ever since he lost Pyrrha, Jaune's life had been one big train wreck. From the constant look of disappointment etched into his father's face in the few weeks he was home, to the near death clash with a group of psychotic rogue huntsmen a few nights ago, his rotten luck only seemed to worsen. However despite all the terrible misfortunes and mishaps that had jaded him in the past few months, nothing could have possibly prepared him for the moment he had dreaded most of all, the moment he had to meet Pyrrha's family.

"Wha-what did you say?" Asked Mrs. Nikos, A look of broken disbelief on her face that hammered the mountain of guilt Jaune was carrying deeper into his being.

He sat across from the Nikos family with his two teammates at his side, Ren with his eyes closed and face masked in an indecipherable expression, Nora still as stone and staring blankly at her lap. From the way they were acting you would have thought their audience was a family of Gorgons, ready to turn them to stone with a single second of eye contact.

But Jaune couldn't look away from them, he had no right to. They looked so much like her it hurt, despite the look of horror on the mother's face she was gorgeous. Long red hair with golden highlights and barely a wrinkle in sight, if you had shown him Pyhrra in twenty years, this would be have been her. The only glaring difference was her fiery red and orange eyes.

Clutching her hand tightly and sitting as still as a stone statue, was Mr. Nikos. His piercing green eyes, painfully reminiscent of his late daughter's, illuminated past his shaggy brown and gray hair bore into Jaune with unwavering precision, his mind clearly going at top speed to try and process what he had just been told.

Most painful of all was the reaction of her younger brother. No older than Ruby and dressed in a plaid shirt and blue jeans with a single pierced ear and unruly hair, he had been leaning against the counter of his family's kitchen the whole time they had been there, watching the three of them like a hawk. Upon hearing the news of his elder sister's fate he had closed his eyes and tightened his fists till his knuckles began to turn bone white, his whole body trembled with anger.

"My mother asked you a question Arc" he said with as little emotion as possible.

Jaune gulped, "Your daughter, and our teammate, Pyrrha Nikos, b-bravely gave her life in the d-defense of Vale" he said, his voice shaking with every word.

The mother's face fell from a look of horrified denial to one of immeasurable sadness as tears poured down her cheeks and began letting out a torrent of sobs. Her husband pulled her into a comforting hug, him not doing much better.

"Dammit! I knew that school, HIS damned training, and all that pressure, I knew they would get her killed but, but, oh god she's gone!" Her mother wailed.

"Oh Koilos, this can't be happening!" She continued, her husband holding her even tighter than before.

In response to the scene in front of them, Nora began sobbing softly in unison with Pyrrha's mother. Ren at first remained stoic but was unable to prevent a single tear from slipping down his left cheek.

Before Jaune could think to say anything, her brother slammed his fist down onto the table they were sitting at and cracked it slightly, "Leave now" he said in his still monotone voice.

Jaune stumbled to reconcile, "But I…"

The boy stopped him, "You were her team leader weren't you? Tell me, why did you let her die."

Jaune fell speechless, her brother had asked the one question that he knew that for the rest of his life he would never be able to answer.

"She was my sister, and you. let . her. DIE!" His emotionless facade broke and he slammed Jaune against the nearest wall.

"Wait don't!" Yelled Nora. She stood up to aid Jane but Ren forcefully pulled her back into her seat.

The brother had opened his eyes once again to reveal Pyrrha's eyes. Her shimmering irises so beautiful, they made her appear as if she were a goddess. Now looked back at him from a different face. They burned with pure hatred and spite, a lust for revenge bubbling and boiling beneath their pupils.

He threw Jaune to the ground with all his strength and knocked the wind out of him. As Jaune tried to pick himself up, he found the pointed tip of a lightning imbued sword aimed directly at his throat. From it's thin hilt all the way to its thick curved blade edge, built for hacking off limbs, was glittering stunningly,

" _A Kopis"_ Jaune thought.

"Alexiris Nikos! Put that weapon away before you do something you will regret, and trust me, you will regret it!" Said his father, with a shaky yet commanding voice.

Alexiris towered over Jaune and did not react to his father's demand for a few moments. A strange glowing from his aura leaving the occupants of the room unable to see around them (most likely as a result of whatever semblance the boy possessed). The only thing Jaune could distinguish from the mess of glowing light was those terrifying green irises, before the boy closed his eyes.

The light dimmed till the room returned to normal, "Get out of our house" said Alexiris quietly.

The kitchen filled with an uneasy silence only broken by the quiet whimpering of Mrs. Nikos.

"Get out now, and never come back!" He yelled.

Jaune sighed and slowly rose to his feet. Ren nodded and took Nora's hand as he guided her to the exit. Jaune opened the front door and stepped out into the unwelcoming cold of the late winter.

As his friends walked out behind him he turned around and locked eyes once more with Alexiris, "I'm sorry" he said, because it was all he could think to say.

The red headed boy grit his teeth, "I don't care" he said bitterly, before slamming the door in Jaune's face.

The three stood there in silence for a moment before Jaune's sigh signaled them to leave the premise, "Thanks for stopping Nora, Ren, The last thing we needed was for that to escalate even more."

Ren nodded solemnly at his leader, Nora frowned, "I'm sorry I wasn't thinking, as usual."

"Don't be so hard on yourself" said Ren calmly as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Nora smiled for the first time that day, "I'll try."

Jaune cracked a smile himself at the sight of his teammates,

" _Those two are still perfect for each other"_ he thought.

The worse for wear team slowly began meandering back towards the tram leading to the academy. They breathed in the cold air of the upper city to sober their thoughts, the smell of burnt wood still lingered at the edge of the wind from the wildfire that threatened the district the previous week. Middle class folk rushed back and forth between new stand to learn what kind of madness the world was descending into, as servants of the rich hauled mounds of supplies from the market back to their master's estates to prepare for the worst of the nigh inevitable war on all fronts with Atlas, the White Fang, and most terrifying of all, the Grimm. Each passerby they encountered carried the same ashen face that signified their ever fleeting hope.

As much as he felt like licking his innumerous wounds he decided to use his time more productively,

Jaune shook his head in frustration, he and the gang had been thinking in the same circles ever since the night they fought their assailants. If they didn't leave soon, Azure would return to kill them again. So that left them with one seemingly impossible decision, either stay put in their enemies' sight, or walk right into their trap. Neither sounded very survivable.

"Mr. Arc, please wait" said a subdued and mournful voice.

Team JNPR turned around and were surprised to see the sullen face of Pyrrha's father before them. "I'm sorry for the way my son acted, he hasn't been taking the possibility of-" he gulped, "-his sister's death very well."

Jaune looked down in shame, "I'm sorry, I was too weak to protect her. I failed as a huntsmen, and a leader. I can never make it up to your family, for that I am truly, and deeply, sorry" he said, his whole body shaking with renewed grief.

Mr. Nikos sighed, "To be honest, we all knew deep down that she wouldn't be coming home, we just didn't want to admit it. None of us talked about it, we barely even mentioned her."

He shook his head in regret, "We were living a lie, hoping that she'd just walk through the front door one day. Just like she always would after practice with her father."

Jaune was saddened by his tale but had to do a double take upon hearing the end of his statement, "Excuse me but aren't you her father?" asked a perplexed Ren.

Mr. Nikos shook his head, "Oh no, not biologically at least. I married Heliona, her mother that is, after Pyrrha's father left her high and dry. Alexiris is my son though, as brash as I was" he said with the faintest of smiles before his face darkened once more.

"Her real father is a world renowned huntsmen, one of the best there is, and what little emotional support he gave her he at least tried to make up for by training Pyrrha to be the warrior she always wanted to be." A tear started to run down his face, causing him to stop and wipe it away.

"I had gone to school with him when I was your age. He was one of the top students of our class, along with your father."

Jaune's eyes widened and his thoughts ran at a thousand miles a minute, _"Dad trained with Phyrra's dad!?"_

Jaune gulped, unsure of where the conversation would turn.

"Speaking of which, your father well…" Mr. Nikos rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I knew him,we weren't very good friends, in fact he was kind of a bully."

Strangely, the man smiled, "That was why I was so confused when she called me and said she had fallen head over heels for you, an Arc."

Jaune felt a twinge of guilt rush through him, his inability to notice Pyrrha's advances before it was too late would alway haunt him

"But one look at you and I can tell that you're nothing like your father" he said.

Jaune looked up at the smiling man in surprise, "You clearly aren't as strong as him, but I can see it in your eyes. You care deeply for your friends and teammates, that's something that your father just couldn't muster. Infact, if one of his teammates had been run over by a bus I'd doubt he'd have shed a single tear."

He shook his head and laughed weakly, "Look at me rambling like an old fool stuck in the past. What I came here to say is this; on behalf of my family, I thank you, for telling us the fate of our daughter, and for being the best friends she ever had."

There was an awestruck silence after his statement, eventually broken by Nora who began crying into Ren's shirt.

Jaune smiled, "Thank you, your words mean a lot to us." Jaune couldn't have been happier, it was as if the weight of the world having just been lifted off his shoulders. As he and his friends turned to leave, Koilos spoke to them once more, "Team JNPR, there is one last thing I'd like to ask of you."

The three turned back to him. Koilos sighed and looked up at the dark clouds hanging above Mystral, "There is a storm brewing on the horizon, the worst one since the Great War, and I reckon things are going to get a hell of a lot worse before they start getting better. So I ask you three this, if all of us make it out in one peace-" he turned to look at them with a smile, "-Please, stop by our place for lunch sometime, I'll make sure Alexiris behaves himself."

The three of them stood shocked, but a quick exchange of glances showed that they were all in agreement, "We'd be honored Mr. Nikos" they said.

The man smiled warmly, "Please, call me Koilos" he said.

The three nodded and bade him goodbye once more. He turned away once more with a smile on his face, a warm light in the sea of cold frowns that was washing over the city. The smile on Jaune's face faltered when he noticed something across Koilos' neck.

A pink scar from a severe burn cut across the skin of his neck like a dagger. He carried himself as if it didn't bother him, but he shivered violently as a cold breeze hit it.

Jaune tightened his hands into fists, " _If we stay here then we put them all in dagger. We need to leave."_ He thought.

Before Jaune could tell his teammates about his resolution, Ren shouted out a question to Koilos, "If you don't mind us asking, could you tell us the name of Pyrrha's father? Or where we might find him?"

Her step-father shrugged, "He doesn't like public knowing she is his daughter, avoiding showing a weakness and all that. But damn good secrecy is going to do us now. You probably won't see him any time soon though, he left for that huntsman meeting in Vacuo a while back but hasn't returned."

Koilos placed his hat on his head and chuckled, "His name is Jacob Cemalt, headmaster of Haven Academy."

…

After several days of travel, Merc and Yang finally found themselves on the tram heading into high class district of the capital. "It's been awhile since I've been here" said Merc absently as he stared through the window at the stacked, hierarchical, landings that made up the capital.

as the huntsmen in training called it.

"Wow, it's so different than Vale!" Said his blonde companion in awe.

She smiled evilly then pointed at a roof of a nearby building with her newly acquired metallic arm. "Hey Merc, don't ya think that architect was compensating for something?"

Merc glanced in the direction she pointed in and saw the slightly phallic shape of small tower. He sighed heavily, "Is your mind always this dirty?"

Yang chuckled, "My mind's never been clean."

Merc rubbed his temples, "Now I know how Emerald felt hanging out with me, I owe her an apology next time we see her...provided she doesn't try to kill us."

"Hey, what's with that?" Asked Yang curiously.

Merc rolled his eyes and refused to look out the window, "Knowing you it's probably a sex joke waiting to happen."

"No I mean it, what is that?" She said with worry in her voice.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Merc looked out the window and was shocked to see a large swath of charred wood and blackened stone stretching across the upper district like a scar. "Either we missed the party of the century, or things are worse here than we first thought" he concluded.

The two stared at the rigid black mass until their tram docked on the upper level station, the smell of ash adding an extra bite to the city's already prevalent winds. "You look around the top market, see if you can find anyone who could help us into the school. I know of a passage to the underground around here that houses a black market. That's where we can get some grade-A ammo" said Merc, already walking away from Yang.

"Someone's in a hurry" said Yang jokingly.

He chuckled, "The quicker I can get away from your endless supply of dick jokes, the better."

Yang pouted, "Oh come on, I only told you like, uh, twelve?" she said after taking a moment to count them on her fingers.

Before long, Merc had already disappeared into the bustling crowds of the windy metropolis. "Kill-joy" she muttered under her breath before she strolled off in the other direction.

 _"Now if I were Ruby where would I be?"_ she thought.

Zwei popped his cute little head out of the ragged backpack Yang had picked up in the lower city and barked playfully.

Yang smiled and scratched behind the Corgi's head, prompting him to lick her face lovingly, "Of course you beat him by a mile, don't you Zwei? Don't you?"

The dog barked happily again but suddenly froze up and began sniffing at the air intently.

Yang cocked her head to the side, "What's wrong boy? You smell something?"

His ears folded backwards and his whole body tensed, a fire seemed to have been lit in his little black eyes.

thought Yang in dismay. When Zwei got that look in his eye it could only mean one thing, he smelled a cat.

Zwei launched himself out of the backpack at the speed of sound and bolted down a nearby alley.

"Why me?" Yang groaned, as she took off after him.

The two played a game of cat and mouse as they raced through the back streets of the upper city. Avoiding collisions with the countless passersby that crossed their paths, until she lost sight of him.

She looked around wildly at the filthy abandoned streets surrounding her but couldn't see any sign of him. That was until she heard him barking excitedly and the sound of another person's voice, "Get off me you dumb mutt!"

The voice seemed familiar but Yang didn't give it a second thought. She bolted in the direction of the barking till she saw him biting the leg of a girl who was knocked onto the ground. "I am so, so, sorry! He can be a bit much." She said as she pulled him away hastily.

She began scolding Zwei with one hand then absently stretched her other out to the girl. "Although I don't know why he attacked you, he normally goes after-"

Yang locked eyes with the girl and the two froze. It was as if time itself stopped and the entire landscape fell away. All she could do was take in those startling amber eyes, the same eyes that she thought she'd never see again.

"-Blake" She said, tears of joy welling up in her own eyes.

Her feline partner just stood there, mouth agape and unable to utter a single word. The blonde shrieked in joy then pulled her into a powerful bear, 'It's you! It's really you!" She yelled as she swung her around like a little girl playing with her doll.

"Yang" said Blake in a barely audible tone. She had gone white as if she was looking at a ghost.

Weiss rushed around the corner, hand on the hilt of her sword, "Blake I heard yelling, what is-YANG!?" she stopped in her tracks and covered her mouth with her hands, tears began streaming down her cheeks.

Yang smiled as her own tears of joy finally fell over her eyelids, "Did ya miss me?" she said with a flirty wink.

Weiss' nose scrunched up just like it always did when she got mad. She stormed right up to Yang and smacked her across the face, "Ahh, bi-what was that for?" said Yang, more than a little peeved about her teammates' cold reception.

Whatever comeback Yang would have thrown at her was cut short my Weiss trapping her in her own bear hug, "For making us worry you bimbo!" She said before bursting into tears.

Yang let out a hearty laugh, "So the Ice Queen does cry sometimes. Didn't see that coming." Her face then grew into its signature taunting smile, "Does this mean you're into me or something? Don't get me wrong, I've played for both sides before but you're just not my type."

Weiss slapped her again, "Just because I'm cold doesn't mean I don't have a soul! Also don't flatter yourself, I'm way out of our league."

The two laughed once more in unison, relieved at how quickly they had fallen back to their old repertoire. Blake however remained off to the side with Zwei. While the dog barked happily at the reunion, she remained silent. Fixated on every movement of her partner. The swing of her hips, the beats of her eyelashes, the sound of her voice, looking for any evidence that this wasn't her, that this wasn't the person she failed to protect.

"Your arm, what happened?" was all she was able to say.

Weiss looked at the blonde's new arm for the first time with an inquisitive looks, "Yeah, where in gods name did you get that!?"

Yang gave her makeshift metal arm an unreadable look, "That's a long and complicated story, all I'll say right now is I met someone on my way here who also wants Cinder's head on a platter. He's a mechanical genius and built me this bad boy from scratch."

She gripped her new arm proudly and allowed her mouth to spread once more into a big grin, prompting her two teammates to exchange intrigued glances, "Where is this guy now?" Asked Blake meekly.

"We split up earlier, come on, let's go find him" she said, her cheery grin still plastered all over her face.

Weiss groaned at her friend's tiering enthusiasm, "Well we can't go right now, we were told to meet up with Ruby and the others when they got back from the underground."

Yang's eyes lit up, "Ruby is here with you!? Does this day get any better!?" She said as she pumped her fist in the air happily before she suddenly began to frown, "Wait, underground? You mean the black market?"

Weiss shifted uncomfortably. Blake spoke up first, "She went with Sun and uh, another ally we picked up along the way to get us some supplies for our trip. I protested it but we're kind of out of options right now, I'm sure she is safe."

Yang sighed, "Yeah I guess, sometimes I forget that she isn't a little girl anymore." Yang smiled again before realization struck her over the head like a frying pan,

Yang grabbed Weiss and Blake, "I need to get to Ruby quick before she does something stupid!" She yelled before running off at breakneck speed, Zwei trailing close behind her.

"Wait up!" Yelled Weiss as she and Blake charged after her.

Meanwhile Team JNPR, along with Ciel, and Team SSSN, had all met up and were rounding a nearby corner as Yang barrelled through them, "Sorry" She yelled, not even recognizing her friends.

Jaune fell to the ground and had to be helped up by a flustered Weiss and Blake, "Was that who I think it was?" He asked in shock.

Blake nodded solemnly, "Yep, and still as gung-ho as ever it seems."

…

"I don't like this place" said Ruby, a nervous look etched prominently on her face.

She had felt uneasy ever since her, Sun, and Neo had arrived in the secret back alleys that haphazardly connected the Upper and Lower cities through the underground. Being the group leader and huntress in training, she knew she had to get used to passing through seedy underbellies to gather intel, but these places always unnerved her.

This city however had the worst one she'd ever seen. A thick cloud of smoke sailed overhead from the city's famous mines and blocked out the Sun and created a false sky blacker than night. Black Market dealers peddled their wares from the shells of decrepit buildings while hired guards glanced at any passing inhabitant to protect against theft, pointing the tip of their guns at any Faunus just to be safe. Homeless civilians, mostly ex-convicts, sat around in the filth wallowing in their sorrows. One glance at their eyes and they could tell that most were either drunk or high. Gangsters dressed in old cop or army uniforms from decades gone by patrolled the streets, desperate to try and keep a loose grip on the district's lawless order.

Sun sighed, "Never thought I'd find myself on these streets again" he muttered.

Neo seemed to be the only one of them completely indifferent to her surroundings, "It's just down this street if I remember correctly" she said.

Sun nodded, "Yep, you can tell from the wristbands on the thugs here, this is Shire's territory.

"Who is this Shire guy again?" Ruby asked meekly.

Sun scratched his head before answering, "First they're a girl, and second, well I guess the best way to describe her is a smuggler." My friend Kuro and I used to do odd jobs for her when we lived on the streets. She has access to all kinds of legally grey merchandise; She's got ammo, upgrades, transportation, fake IDs. Everything we need to get to Vacuo and stop whatever Cinder's up to."

"At a price" said Neo bluntly. "I know her too, she was friends with Roman. They were both members of this underground smuggling ring called the

She is a cunning and dangerous business woman that doesn't do anything for free. We don't have any money so the only thing we have to give her is our services."

Ruby gulped, the idea of working for a potential criminal and alley of Torchwick didn't sit well with her. Then again she was walking side by side with Neo, so she guessed that line was already crossed.

"But what is she like?"

Sun and Neo gave each other curious glances before Sun awkwardly answered, "She's, um...aloof."

The three arrived at an abandon Schnee company mine on the south side of the slums with several guards standing watch, "That's one of the entrances to the underground markets, and the only one that leads to Shire's office" whispered Sun.

Neo and walked up to one of the guards who seemed to recognize them and motioned them in. Once inside the complex, Ruby was shocked to see the massive amount of activity. There was a labyrinth of twisting caves it up my oil and dust lamps, leading to makeshift houses of faunus and lively bars.

They eventually arrived at the door to an old tavern running out of the old mine control room. Emblazed upon the rickety door was the faded symbol of the Schnee family defaced by a spray painted name,

"This is the place" said Sun uneasily.

They entered the establishment to find it completely empty except for the bartender, a few bodyguards, and a woman dressed in dark purple and sitting lazily on the chair that, Ruby could only assume, once seated the operator of the mine. Her cat tail swung hypnotically next to her as if it was beckoning them closer into her domain.

The lady looked up to gaze at the three of them with her startling yellow eyes, "Well if it isn't Sun, it's been awhile my dear boy, please take a seat, have you come to take me up on my offer?" She asked lazily.

Sun stood straight as an arrow and frowned, "For the last time no, I quit this life after I got into Haven, that goes for Kuro and team KMSN too in case you're wondering."

Shire frowned in turn, "Ah no fun, since when were you the stick in the mud, guess the bureaucrats in the huntsmen got to you after all. Such a shame, you and Kuro might have taken over my little operation when you grew up, but I guess it wasn't meant to be."

Shire lazily gazed at the ice-cream haired girl with her glowing yellow eyes and a smile came across her face, "Neo darling! Tell me, what has Roman been up to these days?"

Neo gulped, "He's dead, a grimm killed him during the Vale invasion."

Shire seemed saddened by this revelation, "That is a pity, but I guess that's karma for taking a deal with a potential terrorist. Do you have any idea how many times the White Fang have come to me for help 'saving' my species?"

She shook her head, "He had his flaws, he was always difficult around my ilk, faunus girl probably burned him once, but oh well."

Her smile returned as quickly as it left, "There is a silver lining in this however, I'm guessing you're here to take his seat in 'The Hanging Men?'

Neo shook her head, "I must humbly decline Shire, We are here to ask you for some supplies, we are trying to find and bring Cinder to justice."

Shire chuckled lightly, "Bold goal, I approve. Her little stunt has made a mess of my business, I say good rid-"

She froze when her wandering eyes landed on Ruby, her calm composure cracked slightly and her muscles tightened.

Ruby looked around worriedly, "I um, hello, my name is, AHHH" she yelled as Shire spontaneously tackled her to the ground.

Sun and Neo stood in shock, unsure of what to do. Shire pinned Ruby to the floor and stared intently into her eyes, her face hovering inches above her new client's. They sat in silence for a few moments before Shire whispered, "You have silver eyes."

Ruby gulped, that was the last thing she expected to hear. "What did you say your name was?"

Ruby hesitated, "It's Ruby, Ruby Rose."

Shire broke into a round of euphoric laughter before pulling Ruby into a suffocating hug, "I knew it! You're the spitting image of Summer!"

She glanced at the others in attendance. Sun, Neo, and her bodyguards were all giving her weird looks, "Settle down, settle down, I'm just greeting a family friend!"

Ruby couldn't believe what was happening, "You knew my mother!?"

Shire happily slung her shoulder around Ruby as if they were long lost friends, "Sure did Rubes, I was a close friend of her's, an informant of sorts, she was the greatest client I've ever had!"

The smuggler gave Ruby an affectionate slap on the back, waking her up from her daze. "My dad never mentioned you, why is that?" She asked hastily.

The woman paused for a second as if carefully deciding what she should say .Shire eventually decided on sighing, "Your father, Tai, he hated me so much he wouldn't even let me go to your mom's funeral, god rest her soul. The goody two-shoes never did like Summer hanging around 'scum' like me."

She shook her head, "It's a real shame, Summer was prepared for a lot of things, but being a mom wasn't one of them. I could have been the best babysitter in the world if Tai would have let me."

The faunus stepped away from Ruby to give her some much needed space and retook her seat on her makeshift throne, "But what's done is done, It will be a great pleasure to finally work with you miss Ruby Rose." She snapped her fingers, "Hans, bring in the good stuff, only the best for Summer's daughter."

One of the muscular body guards nodded and ran of to drag a cart filled to the brim with all kinds of ammunition and illegal weapon mods. "All this, as many fake passports and ids as you need, and a bit of pocket change all for you my dears."

Neo's eyes widened and Sun whistled loudly. Ruby had to keep herself from drooling at the sight of a top of the line serrated scythe blade sitting atop the mountain of useful upgrades.

Shire twirled a strand of her hair with her finger as she spoke, "Since all three of you are special clients and because I have a particular interest in your success I will give you all of this for one favor. Consider yourselves lucky, I'd normally charge a dozen for this much."

Neo nodded vigorously, "Of course, what is it that you want?"

Shire frowned, "Tell me, have you heard of a man in this city named Laitamar?"

Sun groaned, "What faunus doesn't know him? He's that racist politician who wants to make faunus work camps all over the kingdom. That psycho's part of the reason the White Fang's so prevalent in Mistral."

She nodded, "Correct, he also has the police force in his backpocket. He's been making my life hell these past few weeks as he's been clamping down on my men."

She sneered and leaned forward so they could all hear her, "What I need you to do is simple, I want him dead by tomorrow night. Clean, quiet, and untraceable to me, can you three do that?"

Silence fell over the room as she finished, _"She is crazy! There is no way we're doing that!"_ Thought Ruby.

"You've got yourself a deal miss Shire" said Neo nonchalantly.

"What!?" Yelled Ruby. "Neo, how could you!?'

Neo looked at Ruby perplexedly, "What's the problem? We need this stuff and this guy is a shit bag. Two birds with one stone, sounds good to me."

Ruby looked at Sun, hoping beyond hope that her friend would back her up. Sun shook his head, "One week and you guys already make me an accessory to murder, what was terrorism pushed back to next month?" He muttered bitterly.

He followed up with a shrug, "Fine, we'll do this the hard way, but I'm not going with you."

Neo shook her head, "That's ok, I can do it myself."

Ruby shook her head violently, "No! Killing is wrong no matter what, I thought you'd change Neo!"

The girl sighed heavily, "I have changed, I'm on your side aren't I? If we don't get these supplies our journey ends here, now do you want to save the world or not?"

Ruby clenched her fists, "NOT LIKE THIS!" She yelled before running for the door.

One of the guards reached for his gun but Shire stopped them, "Wait Ruby."

The young leader stopped and turned to look at the stern faced smuggler, "If you are going to stop Cinder, no, if you are going to have any shot at being a huntress, you need to be ready to take the life of another. That is a lesson you're mother learned, and it is one you must learn to."

Ruby froze, it was all too much. This journey, this responsibility, this fear. She couldn't take it. Most of all she couldn't take the thought of her mother; the nigh-perfect bringer of good that she always dreamed of, he phantom that always haunted her, could have spilled the blood of another.

She bolted out of the tavern, tears streaming down her face, _"This isn't right"_ she thought.

…

Ruby had already reached the edge of the undercity by the time she had stopped crying.

The stubborn girl had made up her mind, she didn't care what happened, she was going to stop Neo no matter what.

"I'll take that one please" said a familiar voice.

For what felt like he hundredth time that day, Ruby froze.

She looked to her left and saw the smug, silver haired partner of Emerald buying machine parts from a vendor. His cocky grin every bit as maddening as Ruby remembered.

She walked up behind him as he was finishing his purchase, "Oh Merc" she said in a monotone voice.

Merc casually glanced behind him, his eyes widened when he saw her, "Oh siht" he muttered.

Ruby grasped his shoulder and sneered at him, an uncontrollable amount of anger bubbling inside her, "It's been awhile Merc, how about we go somewhere and talk, you know, just us friends" she said cooly, tightening her grip on his shoulder to emphasize her point.

In hindsight, Merc could have have subdued her right then and there with a quick foot sweep. However knocking her sister out cold would not have sat well with Yang, so he decided to bide his time until he could explain himself to her.

"Ok" he said, equally as calm as Ruby.

Ruby guided the boy away from the stall. As soon as she noticed they were away from any guard patrol, she used her speed semblance to smash him into a wall and throw him into a back alley, "That's for kicking me in the face!" She yelled, all the animosity of her meeting with Shire flowing out of her.

She unsheathed her scythe and propelled herself towards him. Merc shot himself upwards with his boots to dodge. Ruby spun herself into an upwards arc and caught him by the heel, slamming him down into the cement below.

"That was for Penny you son of a bitch!"

Merc rolled out of the way as Ruby brought her blade down upon him. It missed and gave Merc the chance to counterattack, but for some reason he didn't take it.

Ruby twirled around and roundhouse kicked Merc in the jaw, sending him flying into the wall,

Ruby kept the pressure on her adversary, she slammed him into the ground yet again and shot him point blank range in the stomach with a dust round, "That was for Yang" she said.

The boy's aura was failing and his clothing began to rip apart to reveal mechanical legs. "So that's how you did it" Ruby snarled (Something she had never thought she'd do before).

Merc staggered to his feet after the latest flurry of attacks, "Please Ruby, just let me explain I-"

The scarlet warrior didn't let him finish and punched him in the gut, toppling him to the ground. She pinned him down and placed the barrel of her gun on his forehead.

"Give me a reason" she said coldly, "GIVE ME A REASON NOT TO KILL YOU NOW!"

Merc gulped, "I-I-"

Ruby began tuning him out, it didn't matter what he said to her, it wouldn't bring Penny back from the dead, it wouldn't restore Yang's smile, those were gone forever and it was his fault. She heard the same voice from before whisper to her from the depths her subconscious,

Ruby shook her head, the anger that flooded her starting to subside, "No, I can't" she whispered.

Her hands began to tremble, "I-I can't do it, I can't kill him, it's wrong, I'm-I'm supposed to be the hero!"

Her head began to throb as the voice screeched at her in a chorus of primeval bone chilling wails,

Ruby could feeling her shaking finger hovering precariously over the trigger, "I-I-I-I"

"RUBY!" yelled a voice.

Suddenly the last bits of anger faded and the chorus was silenced, Ruby slowly turned to the source of the voice. Standing at the entrance to the alley way, tears in her eyes, golden hair draping down her back, and a strange metallic arm at her side, she looked so different, yet so strikingly the same. She spoke again, "Please Ruby, stop this."

Ruby felt fresh tears beginning to fall from her eyes as she responded in disbelief, "Yang."


	20. Chapter 16: A New World Order

**A/N: Sorry this is a bit late, but here you go, the newest chapter!**

"Hard to believe we were going to school here a few months ago" said a melancholic Emerald as she gazed out over the ruins of Beacon academy. The once shining symbol of progress was now a festering hive of grimm. Hundreds of thousands of the horrific beasts of all ages and sizes gazed hungrily from their new home down at the sporadic lights of the damaged city below.

Emerald could sense the fear emanating from the wounded capital. Most of the city streets had been abandoned due to lack of troops to keep them secure. Only a small fraction of the city remained inhabited, the downtown district near the harbor was now a makeshift fortress desperately clinging to its existence. The stubborn citizens that remained in the fallen land had locked themselves into their houses, waiting for the day the grimm inevitably came to finish them off.

"Apocalypses are so romantic aren't they baby?" Said Azure as he moved to place his arm around Emerald's waist.

She shot him a murderous glare causing him to back off, "You're no fun" he muttered.

Carbuncle let out a crazed snort of laughter at his brother's weak flirting but was silenced by a disapproving stare by Cinder.

"We're here" She said, her beautifully terrifying voice drawing the attention of her three companions to their target; The CCT tower.

The massive grimm dragon that lead the invasion of Vale remained perched on the top of the monolithic structure like a statue. Animosity radiating from it's night black skin was so thick it manifested as a dark mist from which flocks of baby nevermores flew out from periodically.

"I still can't believe Summer Rose's little bastard child could do something like this on her first attempt, her eyes may hold more power than even her mother's. Hell, maybe even as much as Ozpin!" Said Azure.

Cinder let a devious chuckle escape from her mouth, "Don't kid yourself, if that little brat is Ozpin's last resort then Salem already has him in checkmate."

The mention of her master's name seemed to have sent the already freezing temperature plummeting. Even Carbuncle and Azure seemed to have stiffened and gulped at the sound of it.

Cinder smiled, "You all have nothing to fear, mother Salem is a benevolent god, she is sure to reward you all for your help in returning this world to its rightful owner." She shot a warm look in Emerald's direction, "You have made a wise decision, joining me."

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling as a cloud of purple steam bellowed ominously from the nostrils of the dragon above.

Cinder looked up at the monstrous beast, her smile widening into a wicked grin. "Just look, that wretched silver-eyes' spell has almost completely worn off. He just needs a little wake-up call. Stand back."

Emerald complied and stepped a few paces back from her partner. The Cascade brothers followed soon after.

The stunning witch stepped forward onto a fallen slab of concrete in front of the CCT, closing her eyes, she began to sing, " _Close your eyes now time for dreams, death is never what it seems."_

Another plume of smoke and steam launched from the dragon as it began to stir. " _All your faith in ancient ways leaves you trapped inside a maze."_

The grimm's claws began to move and it's muscles began to stretch as it took in a breath, " _Born an angel, heaven sent. Falls from grace are never elegant!"_

The dragon responded to the hypnotic verses by letting out an earsplitting roar as it's blood red eyes shot open. The lumbering titan leapt down from it's perch and landed mere inches from Cinder. Hundreds of smaller grimm crowded around their matriarch as they awaited it's command.

Emerald stood speechless as she gazed into the soulless eyes of the abomination's every breath sounded as if it were a cacophony of miserable muted voices, calling out for bloodshed.

Cinder reached out a hand and lovingly petted its head, "Hello Kelvin, the time for you to serve your goddess has finally arrived." The dragon growled in approval.

Cinder turned to the brothers that accompanied her and her partner, "You two, how fast can you get the CCT operational?"

Azure smiled, "Give me a day and I'll have it in Raven's hands in no time."

She nodded then turned to her dumbfounded ally, "Emerald"

The former thief stood straight and attentive, "Y-yes ma'am?" She asked timidly.

Cinder smiled warmly, "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you, you're my...friend."

Emerald nodded and let her muscles slack.

The red cloaked woman closed her eyes and breathed in heavily, "You smell that? The winds are changing, this world will not be the same tomorrow." She placed her hand on Emerald's shoulder, "It's going to be so much better, now, I have a new assignment for you, my apprentice."

…

"One thousand fifty-seven, one thousand fifty-eight, one thousand fifty-nine! One thousand-"

Qrow slammed his hand against the prison cell wall in anger, "For the love of god Tai, stop doing push-ups, this place smells bad enough!" He yelled.

Tai sighed and cut his exercise routine short, "Fine, any other ideas on how to spend our time? But If you ask me to play blackjack one more time I'm gonna snap your neck."

Qrow shook his head, "Nah, it's not fun without hookers anyways" he said with tiered sarcasm as he slumped to the floor. He absently reached for his whiskey before remembering that his sister took it from him when she beat him.

"Any idea how long we've been in here?" Tai asked absently.

Qrow sighed, "2 or 3 weeks I geuss."

It had felt like forever since the two partners in crime had seen sunlight. Being locked underground in one of Doctor Sol's fancy prison cells by his deranged power hungry sister and an even more deranged power hungry demon wasn't doing his mood any favors.

He felt an uncomfortable twinge in the back of his head, "God dammit!" He muttered.

Tai sprung up to his feet, concern in his eyes, "What's wrong?"

Qrow groaned, "Nothing, just all the negativity in this prison is agitating me."

Qrow quietly began humming a catchy tune to drown out the miserable whispers that began drifting into his mind. "It's nothing Tai, just the price of being a Reaper" he chuckled.

It really was nothing though, during the battles for Beacon and Shade, the cheery little curse of his forced him to absorb more negativity than he ever wanted too, this dreary prison was a spotless Utopia in comparison. While a power like his allowed him to gain enough strength to even overpower a maiden, it also put him at risk to be consumed by misery, and that was a fate worse than death.

It was his blessing and his curse. It made him a living legend, one of the fabled knights of the shadows, a Reaper.

Qrow banged out a message in morse code on the wall hoping the Tin Can and the nerd from the next cell over could hear him. A distinctly metallic sounding code rang faintly from the wall a few seconds later.

"He says they're fine but Oobleck's giving him a headache, he's apparently a monster without his coffee. Glynda's also seems to be about ready to throttle Port but what else is new?"

Tai sighed, "What are we going to do Qrow? Every minute in here is another one that your sister and my wife has to spread whatever bullshit life she's come up with about James and Ozpin!" He shook his head and ran his hands threw his already graying hair.

Qrow placed his hand reassuringly on his best friend's shoulder, "It's going to be all right Tai. If you think I'm going to let my sister get away with humiliating me and breaking your heart, well you'll be in for quite the surprise"

Tai gave him a half hearted smile, "You know I almost believe that."

"Still friends after all the bad blood eh? Go on kiss, I'm waiting" said a familiar and assertive voice.

Qrow and Tai spun around to see Raven smiling at them from the other side of their cage's small window.

"What do you want sister?" Asked Qrow with biting sarcasm dripping from every word.

Raven's smile widened showing off her reddish black lipstick and bring emphasis to her endlessly complex eyes, "Can't an old friend stop by and talk from time to time? Spearheading a world changing revolution is stressing work, I could use some family to help me through it."

Qrow spat at the window and scoffed, "There's your support sister."

Raven sighed, 'You know none of what I did was personal right? I guess I'll have to look to Yang for support."

Tai pushed past Qrow and slammed his hand against the glass, "Our daughter has gone through plenty thanks to your schemes. If you so much as go near her I will end you!"

Raven shook her head, "As brash as always Tai, but I couldn't get to her if i wanted too. She's gone."

Tai's face fell, "What?"

Raven shrugged, "I sent a squad to your house to pick her up but she's gone, a note said she left to find her sister in Haven."

Tai gulped, "She-she went by herself?"

Raven nodded, looking genuinely distraught, "Chances are she is dead, but I'm not giving up the search, I know I'm not going to win any mother of the year awards but Yang and you two are the only people I care about in this damned world. And I'm not letting any of you die if I can help it."

They stood in silence for a moment before Qrow spoke up, "And what about Ruby?"

Raven tensioned, "Summer's child, has made it too Haven, and her magic has gotten too strong for me to ignore."

Qrow scowled, "So you're going to try and off her right?"

Tai began shaking. Raven answered, "No, she may be of use to me yet, but that is not important now. Winter, open cell 49-C."

Qrow and Tai noticed for the first time Winter Schnee standing next to their former teammate.

Qrow pounded on the glass, "Winter whatever Raven has told you is a lie! Everything she's doing is a blatant power grab, you can't trust her!"

Winter gulped and looked at her feet, avoiding any and all eye contact with her long time rival.

Raven let out a small laugh, "Qrow you really should work on your lying, Winter knows that she belongs here, on the right side of history. Away from dusty old traitors like you. Now Winter, be a dear and free the prisoner we are here for."

Winter sighed and walked over to the cell across from them and typed in a code to release the door.

Raven smiled, "I'll be back to give you the news every day brother, things are going to start changing real soon."

A lumbering figure stood up in the shadows of the nearby cell and stepped into the light. Qrow's stomach flipped on it's side and for the first time since the fall of Vale he felt his own sense of dread punch him square in the gut.

Towering in front of him was a terrifyingly bulldozer of a man with more scars than he could count and a permanent scowl that matched his sadisticly detached eyes eerily perfectly. "Naislain" Qrow whispered in disbelief.

The long disgraced general smiled at his old enemy, "Why if it isn't Qrow, I knew i'd see you in this hellhole eventually."

Raven gestured towards the prisoner and smiled, "Naislain here has been the model innamate for years so we have decided to let him on parole with one condition, he must serve as my new high general."

The two best friends gave each other wide eyed looks before turning their attention back to the lunacy in front of them, "Raven are you insane!? This monster is responsible for that horror show with the faunus over a decade ago! He's the reason the White Fang are so violent! We put the sick bastard behind bars ourselves for christ sakes!" Said Tai frantically.

Qrow nodded grimly, "If you reinstate him there will be hell to pay! You'll lose the trust of every faunus in Remnant!"

Raven scoffed, "You hear that Winter? Qrow is worried about the opinions of the animals? As if we'd care what the enemy thinks!"

He was taken aback by her statement, "Enemy? What are you planning!?"

Raven playfully put her index finger up to her lip and winked, "Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, you're going to love it, We are going to change the world!" She smirked and motioned Naislain and Winter to follow her out of the room.

The general flashed a cruel smile at Qrow and Tai, "What was it you told me all those years ago? 'See ya in hell'? Well I guess you kept your promise."

Qrow looked towards Winter in desperation, "Winter please! I know you hate my guts but for once in your stubborn life please listen to me! You can't trust her! She's lying I swear!"

Winter froze in her tracks and turned back to Qrow, an impossibly complex expression engraved on her solemn face. She spoke in a deadpan, emotionless voice, "As a member of the Atlesian military and proud member of the Schnee family, I will do what I must to preserve humanity."

She turned away and followed a triumphantly smiling Raven out of the room, leaving Qrow and Tai behind in a cell that felt far more miserably and oppressive than it did a few minutes ago."

…

"And that is everything I know about Cinder's plan. So if you could please not try to kill me I'd very much appreciate it" said Mercury with a hint of sarcasm after spilling all the useful information he had.

Team SSSN's dorm room was dead quiet, all in attendance trying to wrap their head around the information their former enemy had just given them. Sun hung upside down from a hook in the ceiling deep in thought. Jaune, Nora, Neo, Weiss, and Ciel sat together on Neptune's bed, staring dumbfoundedly at Merc. With the exception of Ciel, who held an unreadable look upon her face. Ren sat cross legged on the floor and had his eyes closed as if he was meditating.

Blake leaned up against the far wall of the room, as far away from Yang, her eyes watching her every movement.

Ruby sat on scarlet's bed next to her sister, staring intently at her new arm with only periodically breaking sight with it to shoot a look at Merc.

"So what does Cinder want with these 'Maidens'?" Asked Ciel to break the silence.

Merc shrugged, "She was always very cryptic about what their purpose was. The closest thing to a straight answer me and Em got was, ' _Whoever controls the four maidens holds the fate of the world in their palm.'_ "

"I hate cryptic bullshit" said Sun bluntly.

"You and me both" said Merc in response.

Yang stood up, "So there you have, we may have once been enemies but now we share a common goal. Plus he got me this as you have already noticed" she pointed to her metallic appendage. "Anyone have anything to say?"

Ciel spoke up first, "How are we supposed to just trust him? I'm fine with Neo, she and Roman were forced to help Cinder. You did it of your own free will."

Merc shook his head in earnest, "Yes I did, and that decision has pretty quickly become the worst mistake of my life, I want to fix it."

Sun shot him a sideways glance, "This is one hell of a mess to fix, a lot of people are dead because of you , including...including a few friends."

The room returned to silence, Team JNPR, Ciel, and Ruby far more tense than before.

The mercenaries' face darkened, "You act as if I don't know that. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, I know I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting it, what I want is for you to let me join you. Let me make this up to you in the only way I possibly can, standing with you in battle against Cinder.

Ruby shot up on to her feet, "So you can stab us in the back? I'm sorry but I already have a long list of things out to kill me. I don't need a murderer like you to be added onto it!" She said in a voice probably louder than it should have been.

"You already do" said a calm voice.

Ruby turned to her side to see Neo staring at her, "I may have been forced into the plan but I'm every bit as responsible for what happened in Vale as he is. But you gave me a chance, why not him?"

Ruby grit her teeth, "Your different Neo, you've proven you can change, not to mention you have Nora and Ren to vouch for you."

Yang's eyes briefly lit up red, "Oh so I can't vouch for him? My word isn't good to you sis?"

Ruby glared at her elder sister, their reunion wasn't as cheerful as she had hoped, "Yang, this is Mercury we're talking about! He's the one who-"

"Who got us disqualified? Who disgraced me? Is that what this is about?" interrupted Yang.

Ruby bit her tongue, oh course it was about that. That one action by him nearly tore their team apart.

Yang shook her head, "Yes, I know he is the one that ruin MY reputation as a huntress. But look at me now! I'm standing here defending him! If that doesn't show you how much he's changed then I don't know what will."

Ruby was at a loss for words. Deep down she knew that Yang was right, that antagonizing Merc wasn't going to solve anything, but still, all the pain and suffering he brought them. After stopping her from saving Penny, there was no way she could ever forgive him. She simply wasn't that good of a person.

Suddenly the rest of Sun's team burst through the door, faces a ghost white, "It's back, holy shit it's fixed!" Yelled Neptune.

"What do you mean? What's happening?" Asked Sun.

Sage gave him a frantic look, "The CCT, it's back online!" He said, barely able to believe his own words.

"WHAT!?" Screamed the entire room as the shot up onto their feet.

Scarlet ran to the T.V. on their windowsill, "There's a broadcast from Atlas, Everyone else is watching it!" The screen lit up and the international news broadcast jingle began playing.

Ruby and Merc gave each other disbelieving looks, "You wouldn't happen to know about this would you?" She asked.

Merc shrugged, "I got nothing" he said.

The image on the screen changed to the smiling face of the world famous news anchor, Lisa Lavender. The purple haired woman spoke in a cheery tone unlike any they had heard in a long time, "Citizens of Remnant, as you have no doubt noticed, a miracle has just happened, The Vale CCT has begun working once more. The mission to reestablish this crucial place was carried out last night by a small group of skilled huntsman and huntresses under the banner of their newly established and reformed organization."

"Wait, reformed? What do they mean reformed? What happened at Shade?" Asked Yang, half expecting the group know it alls to answer. Weiss and Ciel however remained dead silent.

Lisa continued, "We go now to the front gates of Atlas academy where a crowd has gathered asking for an answer to just what has happened."

The camera cuts to a massive and confused crowd made up almost entirely out of humans congregating outside the beautiful marble entrance to Atlas academy. Several dozen huntsman had lined up in a row in front of them, all with matching badges.

The doors too the academy opened wide and the murmuring of the crowd grew silent, from the threshold three huntsman exited. Two in front and one hanging behind them.

Sun nearly fell off his hook when he saw one, "That Headmaster Cemalt! The hell is he doing in Atlas!?" He said.

Ciel squinted as she looked closely at the small T.V. "And that's Edna next to him, what are two headmasters doing there, aren't they all suppose to be at the meeting in Vacuo?"

Jacob stepped up to a podium overlooking the curious crowd solemnly and removed his hat respectfully, "Citizens of Atlas, no, citizens of the world, I believe you have no doubt noticed the return of the lost CCT too operation. I Jacob Cemalt, headmaster of Haven Academy in Mistral, have a tragic announcement that will sadly sour this joyous day. Three weeks ago today, at 8:00 PM, Shade academy in the great kingdom of Vacuo was wiped from the map in a destructive civil war between the huntsman."

The crowd gasped and began furiously conversing between itself and nearly erupting into chaos.

"Civil war!?" yelled Ruby in shock, the news shaking the young red head to her very core.

Yang covered her gaping mouth with her hands, tears beginning to stream from her eyes, "Ruby; Qrow, Dad, they were there." Ruby gulped and stared stone faced at the T.V. screen.

Jacob motioned his gloved hands towards the crowd in an attempt to calm them, "Citizens, citizens, please, if these perilous months have taught us anything it's that we mustn't let fear grip us. Now let me explain, this one night war was the result of a coup to take control of the huntsman in their weakened state by headmaster and high general, James Ironwood and his companion Qrow Branwen."

"Bull fucking shit!" Yelled Ciel, her calm demeanor having shattered like a pane of glass. Ruby and Yang however were in too much shock to react.

Jacob sighed, "The coup failed and the disgraced general was relieved of his position and was imprisoned along with his co conspirators, but not before his selfish actions took the lives of a third of this world's huntsman population. My partner Edna and I failed to see our former alley's intent before he acted. As Headmasters and warriors, we have failed you all, and for that we beg your forgiveness."

The two of them bowed in respect too the crowd who was continuing to murmur endlessly as it grew more and more uneasy with each piece of bad news they obtained. "But there is a silver lining. While her comrades wallowed in defeat and misery one noble huntress rose to lead this proud organization from the ashes and into a new age. Ladies and gentlemen I give you the new leader of Remnant's huntsmen, Raven Branwen!"

Yang's eyes widened, "MOM!?" She yelled.

Everyone in the room looked to her, especially merc who gave her a look that as if to say, " _You're just telling me this now?"_

The crowd went silent once again as the darkly dressed huntress stepped from the shadows with a warm smile and gracefully took the mic from jacob, who respectfully bowed to her.

She turned to the crowd and her smile began to fade, "People of Remnant I am going to be blunt with you. This world has gone to hell quicker than any of us could have imagined. One of the four kingdoms is on the verge of annihilation, the remaining three at each other's throats, the White Fang being allowed to rampage through the countryside with no one to stop them, and now your huntsmen, your heroes, have torn each other apart. But I ask of you this, please do not lose hope. For the past two decades I have dedicated every second of my life to protecting this world and I'll be damned if I sit on my ass while it falls further into darkness!"

The crowd started making noise again, this time far less pessimistic and more energized by their determined speaker. A few weeks ago my old friend Ironwood and my own brother Qrow attempted to seize power for themselves but instead destroyed the huntsman. But with the help of people like Jacob, Edna, and the good people striving to protect their loved ones, I have reforged this hallowed order into one that it always needed to be. One that protects the people, not play politics with their kingdoms. One that will show no mercy to the terrorists and monsters that threaten our world and shall crush them with unimaginable power. The new huntsman, those which my allies and myself have now deemed ' _The Sentinels'_ shall not run from that which brings harm to this world. So when our enemies, be it the White Fang, the Grimm, or some other force comes to once again take everything from us and burn this world to ashes, know that The Sentinels shall face them head on. We are not afraid, and soon NEITHER WILL YOU!"

The crowd burst into an uproar of cheering for their verifiable savyor, "Raven! Raven! Raven Raven!"

Ruby looked around at her comrades to see them with the same look of horror upon their faces. "What did we just see?" Asked Yang in disbelief.

Merc sighed as he closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair, "Isn't it obvious? Your mother just conquered the world."

…

The sound of never ending applause flooded in through the Nikos family T.V. like a maelstrom of hope. For the first time in months Alexiris saw his mother smile. He couldn't believe it but there it was. Hiding behind her recently dried tears was a trace of her beautiful smile.

His father sat next to her, his demeanor as stoic and unreactive as always. However deep in the doom and gloom of his eyes he saw something, a glint of light, a small part of him daring to think that the long dark road of the past few months may be at an end.

Alexiris held his Kopis in his left hand and inspected it. It's gleaming blade made of strong battle hardened metal that glowed a bright golden yellow. The shine of its surface reflecting his young and inexperienced face back at him. Also reflected in it was the empty void sitting next to him on the couch.

Every time he gazed into it he hopped beyond all reason that he would see his annoyingly perfect sister in it, watching him struggle with his weapon maintenance and giving him tips like he always has. But no, every time he looked there was no one but him. He would never see her again. No longer would she tease him about his unhealthy eating habits, no longer would she laugh at his teenage angst, no longer would she annoyingly lecture him on doing his homework, no longer would she jab him in the ribs playfully while he was trying to watch Remflix, no longer would she be the greatest sister ever. She was gone with the wind, just like the peace he always knew.

He gazed up at the television screen, the intimidating and assertive Raven Branwen looked out at the sea of helpless people in front of her. A confident half smile engraved onto her otherwise stoic face.

The young boy gripped the hilt of his sword and attempted to replicate her smile through his gritted teeth, " _I'll make you proud sister, no matter what"_ he thought.

Determination renewed, he stood up and faced his parents. He took a deep breath before showing them the most confident look he could muster "Mom, Dad, tomorrow I'm joining the Sentinels."

…

By the time Ruby's motley crew had finished loading up the boat, it was already midnight. The splintered sliver of the ominous half moon bore down upon them as they toiled away, making sure everything was ready for their departure.

"We'll be ready to leave as soon as Neo and Shire get here" said Ren.

Ruby clenched her fists, "I still can't believe you and Nora let Neo take take that job. How could you?!"

"Shhhh!" Said Ciel as she fiddled with the boat's control panel, "Do you want to attract unnecessary attention to us? People are partying all over the city, they are distracted but we shouldn't take our chances with being loud."

Ruby groaned quietly in frustration at how little the act of murder seemed to be phasing her so called friends. Yang put her normal hand on her sister's shoulder, "Don't worry sis, I don't agree with this either."

Ruby scowled, "I didn't see you trying to stop her."

Yang sighed and muttered to herself, "Looks like someone has hit their rebellious phase hard."

"Hey I heard that!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "You two going to bicker the whole way to Vale aren't you?"

"I'll toss one of them overboard if that happens" remarked Jaune, getting a snicker from Nora in response.

At that moment Ruby snapped, in a barely controlled yell she scolded them, "Do any of you realize what we have just done!? Someone is DEAD because of us! He probably had a family, wife and kids, and we just, we just-" Her voice cracked and a sob escaped her as hot tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Yang and Weiss quickly pulled her into a hug as she began crying and shaking. Blake dropped what she was doing and ran over to hug her as well, strategically placing herself as far away from Yang as possible. Team JNPR and Ciel remained silent the whole time, unsure of what to do.

"You really are your mother's daughter" said a feminine voice from the shadows.

They all turned to see Shire walking towards them with Neo in tow. Along with Merc and the members of team SSSN lugging equipment and supplies with them, "Summer was always the moral compass of her team" she said with a nostalgic grin on her pretty cat like face.

Ruby gave the mysterious friend of her mother a confused look through her teary eyes, "But I thought you said mom worked with you! You're anything but moral!"

Merc made a silencing gesture at her, "Ixnay on kicking our only gift horse in the mouth 'leader.'"

Shire laughed, "Please, to work in my business you can't be thin skinned."

Neo lowered herself into the boat and gave Nora and Ren a grim look, "It's done, we've got all we need." She moved to hide a blood stain on her jacket with the hilt of her weapon but Ruby saw it before she could, causing the redhead to nearly throw up.

Shire shook her head, "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. I know that I'm not some innocent little angel, but neither was your mother. No one can be innocent for long, and in this line of work, both your's and mine, you can't keep your hand clean for long."

Ruby gulped, "But-"

The smuggler interrupted her before she could finish, "Look around you Ruby, do you honestly think anyone of your friends wished to take a life tonight? Do you see any of them smiling like a fool? No, you don't, not a single one, and if you did i doubt you would have made friends with that person in the first place."

She sighed, "Ruby, it won't be tonight, it won't be tomorrow, it might not even be any time soon, but believe me when I say that by the time you finally set this world right, those hands of your's will be stained by sin and blood."

The young huntress went silent but then nodded, "We'll see about that" was all she said before storming off into the lower deck of the large boat.

Shire shrugged, "I guess stubbornness is hereditary after all" she muttered under her breath.

She turned to Neo with a smile, "It was a pleasure working with you Neapolitan, I hope you have better luck than Roman. And remember, if you do survive this that spot in the Hanging Men is open."

Neo nodded, "Thank you Madam Shire, you were as great a help as always."

"Welp, that's the last of it" said Merc as he jumped into the boat after packing the lst of their supplies.

Blake looked up at Team SSSN, "Are you sure you guys aren't coming?"

Sun and Neptune looked at each other and shook their heads, "We can't go, we'd just hold you guys back. Raven's starting drafts for the Sentinel's war against the White Fang tomorrow, we need to get close to them, I'm not letting that soon to be tyrant out of my sight."

He turned to Yang and awkwardly scratched his head, "No offence."

She shrugged, "None taken."

Jaune smiled, "Don't worry, remember the plan. If we succeed in what we're doing we'll regroup in the Vacuan capital six months from now."

Neptune shifted awkwardly, "But what if, you...don't….uh...show up."

Everyone on the boat stopped what they were doing and clenched their fists, ashen faced. Merc was eventually the one to answer, "Then good luck saving the world."

With that optimistic goodbye, the teams finally split off from each other. Ruby and the gang set sail for the mysterious " _Cave of Vices and Virtues"_ mentioned by Azure. Shire bid team SSSN adieu and disappeared into the shadows as Sun always remembered her doing.

As the tired team set off back to the school grounds Sun looked back over his shoulder and gazed out at the vast expanse of ocean that lay before him. Team RWBY and friends' boat a small beacon of hope on the horizon. A frosty chill carrying the smell of the old world's ashes drifted by him.

"What's wrong Sun?" Asked Neptune.

Sun shook his head, "I don't know, I just can't shake the feeling that when we meet up, someone's not going to make it there."

 **A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNNNN! Leave a review if you have any thoughts. Hope you liked it!**


	21. Chapter 17: Look Me In The Eye

Weiss had put up with some grade A bullshit the past few weeks, from having to flee from her own kingdom to fighting a psychotic fire wielding murderer she had almost reached her limit, and Yang and Ruby's never ending argument wasn't inching her farther from her breaking point.

It was nearly midnight and the two were still at each other's throats, being stuck on a boat together for a whole day probably wasn't helping. They sounded like broken records, endlessly circling the same points and arguments in a self sustaining deadlock that would continue till one passed out from exhaustion, and judging by the circles forming under their eyes it would hopefully be soon, " _Am I a bad teammate for thinking that?"_ Thought Weiss, she shrugged and turned her attention to the other two occupants of the bunkroom.

Mercury was lying on his bed on the bunk below Weiss. Constantly wiping the sand from his eyes, as he fought the relentless approach of sleep. He knew that it would be a bad idea to doze off in the middle of the sisters' argument over him. Though from the look in his eyes, this was one cat fight that he wasn't at all excited to watch unfold.

Blake leaned up against the wood wall on her upper bunk on the opposite side of the room as far away from the fight as possible. Weiss rolled her eyes as she over heard the wonder twins returned to the beginning of their argument and buried her head in her pillow in an attempt to block them out. Zwei, who was lying on the bed with her as she scratched behind his ear, let out a low whine and cuddled next to her. Weiss smiled at the corgi and gave him a belly rub, " _This must be tough for you huh? Watching your two master's fight?"_ She thought sadly.

"I'm not a hypocrite! Neo's situation is completely different, and you're dodging the question! Why in all of Remnant should I trust him!?"

Yang ran her fingers threw her frayed hair and sighed with aggravation, "Are you even seeing my arm? If he was going to betray us would he really go through the trouble to make this?"

Merc shook his head groggily and chimed in, "Ruby you're better off with me here, you'll never find a mechanic as good as me outside Atlas. What are you going to do if you or anyone else here gets mutilated like Yang did? Ah...um...no offense Yang."

Yang shrugged, "None taken."

Ruby groaned in frustration, "Like I'd trust you with the life of ANYONE here! You and Emerald took advantage of my trust already, and I'm not letting it happen again!" She yelled, a fiery anger in her eyes that rivalled Yang's.

Merc, either from sheer tiredness or by just not giving a shit, ignored the venom in her voice and bluntly retorted, "Didn't you give Neo one of your famous ' _Second Chances'_ speeches a few weeks ago? Yang's vouched for me, why won't you let me prove myself?"

Ruby looked as if she was about to burst, "Ya, of course she'd vouch for you after you practically kept her hostage for nearly two weeks! It's amazing the things Stockholm Syndrome will make someone say!"

That accusation seemed to be the last straw, Merc sat up immediately and gave her a piercing glare. Yang mouth dropped open, the realization of just how low Ruby's opinion on her had dropped since they last met fuelled the wild fire burning within her as she violently shook like an active volcano.

Blake leapt from their bed like, well a cat, and gracefully planted herself between the bickering siblings before their spat escalated into a fight that would sink their boat in the middle of the ocean. "Yang, you need to calm down, and Ruby that was completely out of line. Now apologize!" She commanded.

The aggravated teen scowled, "Oh so you're the leader now, huh? Since when did we establish that?"

The faunus groaned in frustration, "I'm not trying to be the leader!"

The redhead clenched her fist and finally lost her temper, "Of course you're not! A deserter like you could never be a leader! You're only taking Yang's side because you feel guilty about abandoning her!"

The cabin fell silent as everyone's attention turned directly to Ruby. Blake's jaw dropped wide open. Their leader stepped backwards and looked around at everyone in attendance, the expression on her face making it clear that she wished she could take those words back, "I-I need some air." She said defeatedly before making a dead sprint for the door.

"Ruby wai-" the slamming of the cabin door interrupted Yang's plea.

Blake sighed, "Stay here, I'm going to talk to her."

The blonde sister gave her partner a sad glance, "Blake I-"

The Fanus refused to look her in the eyes, "I should go now." She said to no one in particular before darting after her leader.

Yang let out an aggravated combination of a groan and a sigh, "If she thinks I'm staying put she's insane" the hot headed teen bolted after her partner and sister without a second thought.

Merc shook his head almost in sync with the sound of the door slamming shut behind her, "Are they always this bad" he asked, only half joking.

Weiss rubbed her temples to help alleviate the headache the last few minutes had given her, "No, I swear they are better when they're not on their periods."

Merc let out a tired laugh at the princess' joke. "For a rich girl you certainly don't seem to have a stick up your ass."

Weiss shrugged, "You should have talked to be when I first came to beacon. If it wasn't for Ruby I'd be every bit as stuck up as the petty nobles in Atlas. She may not be the most mature leader out there, but if there is one thing she's good at, it's bringing the best out of people."

Merc smiled, "I guess her and Yang have more in common then they realize."

Weiss chuckled, "Now if only they could see that we can put this fight to bed and get on with killing grimm" she said happily as she returned to rubbing Zwei's tummy.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, the absence of the once endless fight and the other inhabitants of the boat, left them with not much more than small talk between them. Eventually Merc sighed and asked the heiress a question that he needed answered, "Weiss, do you trust me?"

The snowy haired girl paused a second before turning towards her former enemy, "Why do you ask me? Ruby is clearly the one you need to convince."

He shook his head, "That's true but what about you? Yang trusts me, Blake seems to atleast give me the benefit of the doubt, where do you weigh in?"

Weiss closed her eyes for a moment to get her answer ready before responding, "To be frank, I didn't make a habit of trusting anyone even before you helped Cinder drag us into this mess. Growing up amongst the Atlesian nobility, spending your childhood learning to navigate through their cloaks and daggers, their empty rhetoric, and their mazes of lies, it makes you jaded pretty quickly. A savvy noble can tell if you're lying just by gazing into your eyes, so no one has the courage to look anyone in the eye in Atlas. So that's what I want you to do."

She swung her legs over the side of her bunk and stared down at the silver haired boy, "When you tell me that I can trust you, have the courage to look me dead in the eyes without so much as a flinch. If you can do that, I can trust you."

The heiress' eyes bore into him with ferocious intensity, despite this, there was no malice behind them, only unwavering curiosity. Merc accepted her challenge and took a deep breath.

He returned her gaze confidently, "I swear on my life you can trust me."

The two former adversaries stayed there, locked in a staring contest that Mercury was half expecting to be to the death.

The standoff ended when the heiress reached her judgement, "Ok" she said.

* * *

As Blake existed the cabin and arrived on the deck, she felt an icy chill run down her spine. The midnight air had already settled in. She quickly spotted Ruby at the bow of the ship, sulking over the side like the moody teenager that Blake often forgot she was.

As the cat expected, Yang was hastily on her tail as she heard the door behind her open and slam shut once again. Her partner bounded up the stairs and stopped right next to her partner, the heat of her aura immediately warming up the nearby air.

Blake motioned for Yang to stop without looking directly at her, "Stay here, if you talk to her now you will only get into another fight. I need to calm her down first."

Yang shook her head, "But she's my sister! I can't just let you do my job for me!"

For the first time since they reunited, Blake finally worked up the nerve to look Yang straight in the face. Her normally perfect face and heart melting smile had been replaced by a pained frown and dark purple bags that congregated under her distressed lilac eyes. Her once flawless gold hair was now a matted mess of faded color and split ends that seemed to show more age than she ever deserved. Blake felt a pang of guilt hit her for the thousandth time these past few months as she remembered that the fault for ruining the beauty that her partner treasured so much lay squarely on her cowardly shoulders.

"Just give me five minutes" she asked.

The blonde conceded and stepped off to the side. Blake took a deep breath and approached their volatile leader. Her mood seemed to have stabilized at least a bit and she was staring off at the barely visible horizon, not unlike how Weiss had on their trip to Haven.

"I'm sorry" she said meekly. "I'm your leader, I should be above attacking you like that."

Blake sighed and leaned up on the railing next to her friend, "Don't worry. You're every bit as stressed as the rest of us, no one blames you for that."

Ruby shrugged, "I'm just scarred, scarred that all we've been struggling for will fall apart. It seems that whenever we pick up any kind of momentum we just get punched in the face. We stop the train, Cinder still wins. We recruit Neo, we nearly get killed by Azure. We fight him off in Haven, Raven takes over the world, Neo murders someone for blood money, and Mercury, he-gahhh!"

Ruby put her head in her hands, "It just seems so hopeless!"

Blake put her arm around her, "You don't have to worry, I'm-"

The red head brushed her off and glared at her through watery eyes, "And you know what terrifies me the most? The thought of us falling apart again! One wrong move, whether it be from losing a fight, or letting the wrong people in, Weiss could be taken away, you could disappear, Yang could lose her smile, and I-I-"

She sulked and looked away, her tears staining her cheeks a sad silver, "And I don't think I could take it all again, I couldn't keep going."

Blake pulled Ruby a bit closer and rubbed her back as her leader let out a few sobs, "Let me see your arm" she said calmly.

Ruby tensed up, "I-I should really go check and see how JNPR are doing, see you tomorrow!"

Before Ruby could escape Blake grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the bow. Making sure Yang wasn't able to see what she was doing, she forcefully rolled up her leader's sleeve. Even though she expected as much, the sight of an honest to god self harm scar across her optimistic little friend's arm wasn't an easy sight to take in.

Ruby averted the faunus' startling eyes as they cooly analyzed her every move. "How did you know" the redhead asked meekly.

Her friend shook her head, "It wasn't hard" she rolled up her own sleeve, "Especially since I've been there."

Ruby's jaw dropped at the sight of her teammates' skin. Nearly a dozen self harm scars lined her arm.

"I started making these a couple years ago when the White Fang became a full fledged terrorist organization." She pointed to the scar across her wrist, "This one was when I tried to take my life about six months before I came to Beacon. If it wasn't for one of my friends, a White Fang commander named Pascal, I would have bled out and died."

She rolled her and Ruby's sleeves back down, "After that, Adam wouldn't let me out of his sight. I also realized that I wouldn't help anyone if I died by my own hand, so I started planning my escape from the White Fang. The rest they say, is history."

Her leader looked at her, new tears in her eyes, "Oh god, Blake, I-I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Blake smiled, "You don't have to be. I just want you to remember that this pain you're feeling, this hopelessness, you're not alone. You should never bottle it up, if you ever need to talk about any of this, come to me immediately! This group is as much my anchor as it is your's, and I sure as hell am not letting it sink!"

Ruby smiled back, "Ok, just please don't tell anyone about my...scars. I want everyone to treat me normally.

Blake nodded, "Don't worry, I know how you feel."

Ruby grabbed Blake's arm before she left, "And Blake, Yang doesn't blame you for what happened, she isn't that kind of person."

The Onyx haired girl gave her the faintest smile, "I'll try. Thank you."

The two friends, now with a much deeper understanding between them, bid each other farewell and a good night. The faunus motioned Yang to come closer, "Go easy on her" Blake said.

Yang nodded and took her partner's place next to her sister, the awkwardness of their previous fight incredibly prevalent in the lukewarm air created by the mixture of the night and Yang's aura.

"So uh, I heard that there are a lot of dolphins in this area, want to try and ride em?"

Ruby gave her sister a weird look before the two began laughing, "We suck at this don't we?" She said, punctuating with a sigh.

The blonde ran her right arm through her matted hair, "Hey, you know small talk is my weakness, you're the one who always used to start the conversation!"

Her sister chuckled before hugging the blonde baffone, "I'm sorry i've been such a bitch, I still don't trust Merc, but if you do, then I'll at least try to."

A big stupid grin grew across her older sibling's face, "Thanks sis, I promise you won't regret this."

Ruby stepped back and the two smiled at each other, hands interlocked like they always had as kids. "Well it's getting late and I have a lot of leadering to do tomorrow, see you then."

She quickly hugged Yang once more before turning to walk off, sleep already on the verge of taking her right there.

Her sister pouted and grabbed her by the arm playfully, "Hold on Rubes, you still need to tell me about your misadventures, I'm sure running into Neo was one hell of a...story?"

Yang looked quizzically down at Ruby's arm a something felt off, she shoved her little sister's sleeve upwards to reveal her scar, her eyes widened and she began shaking."Why didn't you, why didn't you-"

Ruby's face fell, "Yang I-urff"

The blonde pulled her precious siblings into a suffocating bear hug and refused to let go, "When did that happen? How did I not notice? I was so stuck in my own problems that I didn't even notice you trying to kill yourself!? Oh god what kind of pathetic excuse for a sister am I?!" She began sobbing profusely, soaking her sister's short hair in the process.

Ruby couldn't move, not because of her sister's death grip. The training of the past year made her perfectly capable of escaping her clutches. It was something else that kept her there, it was the warmth. The gentle blaze that flowed from her sister's touch. The last they hugged, back in their log cabin on patch, she was colder than stone, wasting away in her own depression. Yet now she realized it, she was back, somehow, someway, Merc of all people really did save her. Her beloved sister was back again. Her family wasn't destroyed after all.

Her eyes began to water, "Yang, I love you so much."

She buried her face in the crevice between her sister's shoulder and neck and began crying a stream of tears of relief. Yang stroked her hair and smiled through her own tears.

"I love you more."

* * *

Team JNPR had decided to spend their late night hours as far away from their friends' screaming match as possible. Setting up shop in the boat's large control room, it was taking all of Jaune's willpower to remain awake, as much as he loved being with his teammates during these trying times, Nora and Neo's girl talk was dreadfully boring. You would think a former criminal and an explosion waiting to happen would be able to think of a single interesting thing to say. However as the last few weeks had shone him, nothing was impossible, even bad things.

The childhood friends continued to giggle and chat like school girls as if everything was normal, as if they weren't potentially sailing into a death trap. Ren remained alert and attentive to the girls conversation, and even chiming in whenever they touched on a topic he was well versed in. How his friend could keep up with crazy women like them, Jaune may never know.

Feeling an alien within his own team ever since Neo arrived in their lives, Jaune turned his attention to the last occupant of the ship's' bridge. The harsh and cynical outsider from Atlas, Ciel Solei.

"So, uh, nice weather we're having?" Jaune asked her in an awkward attempt to start a conversation.

Ciel gave him a judgmental look before returning to her fiddling with the controls, "Yeah, I guess."

As the silence between the two returned, Ren decided to follow Jaune's weak attempt up with a better one, "We stopped sailing for the night over an hour ago, don't you think you should relax?"

Neo looked towards the girl in question and chimed in, "Yeah, you've been at the controls all day, don't you think you should rest?"

The girl with the blue beret shook her head groggily and rubbed the sand from her eyes, "I'll pass, a soldier never sleeps when there is a war to be won."

A loud slamming of a wooden door was heard from below deck that made the whole group, minus Ciel and Ren, jump in surprise.

Ciel allowed a slight giggle escape herself at the sight of her allies' jumpy reaction, "Sounds like the wonder twins' argument has passed, you guys should go get some sleep."

Team JNPR and their ice-cream haired friend gave each other concerned looks. Nora eventually spoke, "I think you're the one that needs sleep, you look like you're about to drop dead!"

Ciel scoffed before looking at her reflection in the mirror on her right, noticing the black bags forming under her eyes for the first time before looking away. "I appreciate the concern, but as a student of Atlas I have been trained to work efficiently under any kind of stress, you don't have to be worrying about my lack of sleep affecting my Abilities or the group."

The team's concern only grew from that, "It's not your abilities we are worried about, it's you. You've been working harder than anyone else here, as your friends we can't just stand by and watch you run yourself into the ground" said Jaune.

The introverted girl rolled her tired eyes, "You call me your friend and you barely know me? We are allies plain and simple." She said in a very matter of factory tone.

Jaune shook his head, "Well we are all on the same team now, how can you expect to fight for the fate of the world along side someone and not get to know them enough to call me a friend?" He asked.

Ciel groaned, "Easy, you don't!"

She turned around to give the four of them an aggravated glare, "Do you forget who we are? We are huntsmen! We don't make ' _friends'_ we throw our lives away to save the world! In this line of work the person next to you could be there one day, die the next. Being ' _friends'_ with them only makes watching them fall in the line of duty harder." Her voice betrayed her as it briefly cracked.

She took only a millisecond to regain her composure, "It's easier if you learn to just not care." They sat in silence for a few moments as an oppressive atmosphere began to flood the room. "You don't really think that do you? You must have had friends back in Atlas" said Jaune.

Ciel sighed and leaned back in her chair, "Keyword, Atlas. The breeding ground to the most dedicated and skilled huntsmen in all of remnant. The teams were put together based on strength and efficiency, except for FNKI, their the collection of outsiders that didn't work well with anyone else."

The black haired girl began absently fiddling with her watch as she recounted the summary of her year at Atlas, "I'm, or at least was, the leader of team CPER, the most advanced team of freshmen the academy had seen since team JSPE over twenty years ago" she gave Jaune a sideways glance, looking for a reaction.

"My teammates were Regulus and Ebony Shroud, the most military and disciplined duo I've ever seen. It took me and Penny everything we had to keep up with them. I barely even talked to them outside of strategizing, as it should have, we were a well oiled machine, nothing more, nothing less."

"And what about Penny?" Asked Ren.

Ciel grit her teeth and tensed up, a thousand different emotions ran through her mind, non managing to break through her stone like persona, "She was a miscalculation. I got to close to her, she became my friend, and she…"

She hesitated, the topic clearly painful for her, "Turned out to be just like me, another one of my father's playthings."

She absently rubbed at the place on her arm where the lightning dust tattoos were invisibly branded into her flesh, ready to reveal themselves at a moment's notice to unleash the raw power trapped within them.

"If you open your heart to others, you just inject yourself with a weakness you'll never be able to cover up."

Jaune jumped up to his feet in protest, "Like hell that's true! None of us would be here if we couldn't count on each other for support!"

Ciel clenched her fists and lost her temper, "Sure, sure, and when half the people here die what will you do? Will you be able to keep going to honor you allies? Or would you drown in your own tears at the loss of your friend?"

The anger boiling in her caused her brands to flare up for a split second and send a bolt of electricity into the rubber seat next to them, frying it completely. The shock caused everyone to jump backwards, the static energy in the air making everyone even more uneasy.

Ciel took a deep breath and allowed her anger to disappear. "Friends aren't necessary." She finally said in a freakishly calm voice.

"Friendship is a needless distraction, an uncontrollable variable that missions like this, people like us, can't afford."

She turned away from team JNPR and sat back in the captain's chair and returned to her work as if the discussion never happened.

Neo cleared her throat and gave her friends forced smile, "Well the four of us really should get some sleep, let's go freshen up Nora."

Nora sighed, "Yeah...you're right Vanila" she said defeatedly.

The two awkwardly shuffled out of the dreary control room with Ren not far behind. Jaune followed them but stopped just before exiting through the threshold.

"You weren't the only one to lose someone close to you that day, Ciel" he said.

She ignored him and continued inspecting the controls.

"I lost my partner Pyrrha. She was the greatest person I've ever met. I loved her."

Ciel froze for a second but resumed her system check, although at a much slower pace.

"I cried oceans after she died, I was a complete wreck for a long time, I still am. I had never felt as much pain, as much emptiness as I did in that month after the battle."

Ciel's hands were starting to visibly shake.

Jaune smiled faintly, "But you know what the strange part is? Even after all the pain it's caused me, I don't regret meeting her, I don't regret falling for her, and most of all, I don't regret being her friend."

He glanced over his shoulder to look at the isolated stranger with understanding eyes, "And no matter how much pain it's caused you. I can tell you don't regret befriending Penny for a second. Even if you say otherwise."

Ciel gulped, "I need to focus, would you please leave?" She said blankly, still not turning to look at him.

Jaune sighed, "Good night Ciel."

"Good night Jaune."

Jaune stepped out the door and closed it. And just like that, Ciel was alone once again. She was back to the familiar emptiness that had occupied nearly every moment of her life. With her new allies gone, she allowed herself to do the one thing years of military training conditioned her to never do on the job, she cried.

The tears ran down her cheeks and her sobs rang quietly out without sign of stopping. Memories of Penny seemed to crop up then of all times. Her carefree and dumb as bricks attitude that infuriated Ciel to no end, her stupidly oblivious smile she always had plastered on her face, the countless times her forgetfulness had caused her to be late for class. (An action that always got Ciel angry to an illogical extent).

She sniffled as she looked at her reflection in her prized golden watch, "Penny, I could really use your ' _Salutations'_ right about now." she thought miserably.

* * *

Adam adjusted his mask for the hundredth time that day. After his blunder in Atlas the White Fang's morale was lower than ever, he needed to get it back, it was now or never.

"The troops are waiting sir" boomed the deep voice of his second lieutenant.

"Thank you soldier" said Adam confidently.

The bull horned man stepped into the light and onto the stage in the center of the White Fang main base in Mistral. 4,000 soldiers, half their army looked up at their leader with anxious eyes.

"High Commander Taurus! Please tell us, how are we going to win against this 'Raven'?" Asked a dear Faunus in the front row.

Murmurs of uncertainty spread through the ranks like wild fire. Adam motioned for them to calm down.

He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts before pulling a tattered old book from his pocket, "Does everyone here know what this is?" He said, thrusting the stained literature up into the air. The room remained solemnly silent as all in attendance nodded.

Adam continued, "What I hold here is the greatest masterpiece of our generation, the book that united a race against human tyranny twelve years ago, ' _The Third Crusade'_ Authored by our savior, our Shepherd, our one true leader, Damu Belladonna!"

The name drop of their common hero lightened the mood of every Faunus in the room and was met with a resounding "Ya!"

Adam sighed, "But that is not how I know him, before he was chosen by the gods to lead us, before he was struck with divine inspiration to put this glorious truth to pen and paper, I knew him as a master, a friend."

Adam took a moment for dramatic effect before continuing, "Once upon a time I was a slave to the Schnees just like many of you. A weak fool who coward at their whips. That was until one day, he saved me. He stormed the camp and slaughtered the humans with ruthless abandon! As I lay bleeding, him and his family nursed me back to health."

Adam took a deep breath before shouting, "AND WHAT WAS HIS REWARD FOR THAT ACT OF SELFLESS JUSTICE!? He was wrongfully imprisoned at a peaceful rally, had his wife murdered before his eyes, and had his children, Blake, Bismuth, and Spring, stolen from him!"

He shook his head and rested his forehead on his arm for a moment to collect himself, "Though he was briefly freed by our efforts to repay him, it would not last. He was imprisoned again and we know not where. Our bottomless debt to him remains unpaid."

He ran his finger across the embroidered words on the cover of the book, taking time to let his words sink into his attentive audience. "I have tried my hardest to live up to his legacy, and have failed many times. I have failed to free him, I have failed to take down the Schnees, but worst of all; I failed his daughter and my love, Blake Belladonna, I have allowed those vile human's words corrupt her, and she now stands with them to tear us away from our future, our freedom!"

A single tear ran down his cheek, "But I will not yield to them again. I, no, all of us owe Lord Damu too much to stop fighting. So I tell this ' _Raven_ ' these ' _Sentinels_ ' one thing. Give me your best shot! I will not yield while there is work to be done! Send your warriors, your slavers, and your traitors, as long as I hold this book, this truth, I WILL NOT YIELD!"

The speech had worked. The proud army of the White Fang cheered in joy as their hearts and hopes soared.

Adam smiled, "Now, get out there, and show these humans just how monstrous you can really be!"

The satisfied leader stepped off the stage to a roaring round of applause. As he disappeared into the corridors of the base, the sounds growing more and more muffled as he grew closer to his quarters, " _I only pray that it was enough"_ he thought grimly.

As he turned a corner he heard a slow clapping coming from his right. He spun around and grabbed the hilt of his katana before relaxing as he realized who it was.

"Hello Commander Pascal, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked sarcastically.

His subordinate Pascal was leaning against a nearby wall and giving him a humorous smirk, "Boy you are quite the public speaker, now if only you had the balls to live up to your pretty rhetoric."

Adam grew red with anger, "Bite your tongue! Or do you forget your place as my inferior?"

She rolled her eyes, "Please, your not that much stronger than me, I can beat you on a good day, easy. After all, leader or not you're still the same as me, a member of the ' _Food Chain'."_

Adam shrugged, as much as he halted to admit it, she was right. As strong as he was, her title as " _Pascal Crestwood, the Heartless Chimera"_ was one he couldn't afford to take for granted, no matter how much her aggravating demeanor infuriated him. How someone as untrustworthy as her managed to keep a grasp on a place in the Food Chain the group containing the top five members of the White Fang, was beyond him.

She stopped her clapping and let her hands fall to her side, her fingers glossing over her dual pistols, " _Stinger and horn",_ she extended her rare feature _,_ eagle talons, and tapped on their cold metal tauntingly as if she were daring him to a fight.

Her jet black hoody hung over her lean and wiry body, Her left eye remained obscured, blocked by a swath of her short purple hair like an eye patch. Her right eye was a rigid green, complimented perfectly by her decorative spider bites.

"What do you want, I'm busy."

She sighed and stepped forward, "From your report it seems that you fought Winter Schnee during your failed coup in Atlas."

She glared at him with her one exposed eye, the little green orb holding all the ferocity of a predator on the hunt, "Am I to assume she is still alive."

Adam scowled, "Yes, she is."

Pascal smiled, "Good, I'd hate it if that murderer died by any hands but my own. She will pay for what she did to me, and I will get my vengeance. Next time, she is mine!"

Adam nodded, "Trust me, I was keeping her alive as a present for you, I'm nice like that."

Pascal chuckled, "Quite the charmer, I can almost see what Blake saw in you once, almost."

Adam growled at the comment, "This conversation is over."

A wild chuckle came from the steel rafters above, "Hehehehehe, looks like she struck a nerve, I expected thicker skin from the ' _Horns of Change'_ himself. You really did let your little whore soften you."

His gaze shot up just in time to see the disappearing tail of a Faunus dart away.

"Boo" whispered the voice.

He jumped in surprise and spun around to come face to face with another member of the Food Chain. His lanky body was dressed in a mixture of brown and green garments caked in fresh mud from a recent mission. His blood red claws still smelled of carnage and a mangled lion tail danced with murderous excitement. The only anchor of sanity that seemed apparent on him was his cold and calculating hazel eyes that Adam always assumed were constantly seizing up the most effective way to kill anything in his sight. He truly deserved the title of " _Arsenic Hide, the Cannibal."_

Hide smiled, "Jumpy as always it seems, you never could keep your composure for long, could you?"

Adam frowned in indignation, "What do you want Snic? Shouldn't you be off frolicking in a field of guts and severed limbs?"

Arsenic scoffed, "Believe me _boss man_ , I'd much rather be off teaching those humans a lesson, but-"

A sarcastic voice from down the hall rang out to interrupt him, "We couldn't miss your rousing speech! It was so stirring I think I'll tell my grand kids about it!"

Adam watched as the source of the voice stepped from the shadows, the Food Chain's fourth member, " _Cordelia Blanc, the Eviscerator."_

Her curly reddish pink hair draped over her tanned shoulders nearly perfectly. Her polished ram horns glittered like diamonds in the oppressive darkness of the base. Teasing sapphire eyes analyzed her superior's demeanor as she drew closer.

Arsenic groaned, "Wow, Blake isn't even dead yet and you're already moving in on him Cord? Never took you for a gold digger."

Cordelia gasped factiously, "Oh Snic you have no class as always. But truly, what kinda person would I be if I didn't dote on my friends every now and then? This is a day to be happy!"

Adam shook his head, "I can never tell if you're being sincere or just patronizing."

The ram Faunus giggled, "Exactly!" She said, as if she had just cleared up his confusion.

He had had just about enough attention for his frustrating allies, but as he moved to leave he froze, "Wait if all three of you are here does that mean-"

"Yes it does Adam, long time no see."

The temperature in the corridor dropped sharply as a thin black mist began floating through the air. All four of them gulped and stood at attention, their banter shot down as they prepared for the arrival of their final member.

A figure walked towards them from the left, the mist condensing around him as it flowed from his aura. Dressed in a tattered black trench coat, a pair of unsettlingly large meat cleavers strapped to his back. Badges and weapons of fallen huntsmen and Schnnes clattering together as they hung loosely from his side as mementos from fallen foes. His harsh, scar covered face was complimented by his empty, heartless eyes. His single remaining wolf ear drooped lifelessly on the left side of his head, a large gash of it missing, leaving his whole appearance seemingly incomplete. Before them he stood, the most powerful member of the Food Chain, " _Bismuth Belladonna, the Black Butcher."_

Bismuth's eyes bore down on his subordinates like grim spotlights, "Cordelia, status report, now" he said, he boomed in his stern, emotionless voice.

Cordelia tensed up and gave her report swiftly, "Our communications array is back online. The Vacuo faction is making preparations to join us here on the front lines as we speak."

Their leader nodded before bringing his attention to Arsenic. "My strike squad have ripped the capital's supply routes a new one, the army can't mobilize now without the Sentinels."

Bismuth nodded and moved on too Pascal. The normally casual warrior saluted him, "Our latest raid was a success, our troops are well fed and armed."

"Good" said the shrouded butcher without so much as a hint of joy.

He turned his hollow eyes to Adam, their scathing gaze daring him to flinch, "What is the damage this time?" He growled.

Adam felt the tiniest drop of sweat form under his mask as he spoke, "The Sentinels repealed our takeover of the Schnee dust corporation, however the troops' morale has been salvaged."

Bismuth mulled the man's words over in his head before passing judgment, "So be it, and what of my father's whereabouts?"

Adam grit his teeth, "Still unknown, however we have narrowed the possible locations down, I can say with absolute certainty that he is being held somewhere in Atlas."

Arsenic let out a short laugh and grumbled, "I could have told you that years ago for free."

Bismuth shot his unruly subordinate a lethal glare that silenced him immediately. "And as for my little sister" he said as he returned his attention to Adam.

The red headed Faunus nodded, "She is alive and was spotted leaving the Mistral capital recently. Do not worry sir, I will bring that traitor to justice!"

Bismuth let out an ominous chuckle, "No, you will not ' _bring'_ her anywhere. I want her found, I want her killed, I want her bludgeoned and dismembered corpse hung from a flagpole and broadcasted to the entire world to show everyone that anyone who crosses my father's beloved revolution will be slaughtered without mercy, no matter who they are."

Adam gulped, he had promised Blake that he would take away everything she held dear, but she was still his love, the thought of seeing her in such a state, it hurt him deeply.

"B-but sir, do you have no sympathy for your own family?" he asked meekly.

Bismuth stepped closer to his old friend and stared into his eyes, "Was that insubordination I heard? Don't tell me you've resolved to let your infatuation with her make your decisions."

Adam stepped backwards out of fear, "N-no sir! Forgive me."

Bismuth retracted his advance and shook his head, "Even as a traitor, she still bears our father's name, and that makes her more dangerous to us than any army. When a Belladonna speaks out, all Faunus, White Fang or not, will listen."

He turned away from him and sighed bitterly, "Send a squad out to track her down. As for the rest of our soldiers, prepare them for war."

He glanced over his shoulder at Adam one last time, "And remember Taurus, no matter how much respect you garner from the troops they will always follow my father, they will always look to a Belladonna for guidance. Never underestimate the power of blood."

He activated his semblance and his entire body melted away into the mist surrounding them and flew down the hall at blinding speed. Even with him gone, the atmosphere and temperature remained bone chilling.

It was Pascal who broke the silence first, "Well he's every bit as dramatic as I remember."

 **A/N: So what do you guys think of the other high ups of the White Fang? I felt it would be kinda stupid if Adam was the only significant member so I felt that this was a natural solution. I hope I didn't have Ruby and Ciel come off as complete bitches. Please leave a review!**


	22. Chapter 18: Off We Go To War

**A/N: Volume 4 in 1 week...GET HYPED!**

It was a cold day in Atlas when Coco set out to join the Sentinel's war draft. The loud, icy, winds whipped the concrete skeleton of the hospital with no end in sight. The halls were quiet but had an air of optimism that it had not seen in months. The hope that Raven's speech had given them all was the shot in the arm everyone desperately needed.

Are you sure I shouldn't hire anyone to take care of you?" asked Java.

Their mother Toffee shook her head and smiled warmly, "Don't worry about me butter cup. It was just a tumble from stress. I'm feeling much better now. Besides the neighbors have promised to check up on me ever afternoon."

Coco sighed and nodded, "Java it's time we left. My team is waiting downstairs."

Her sister hesitated for a second before complying, "Take care mom, I hope next time we meet, this world will be a better place."

Their loving mother smiled, her gorgeous blond hair flowing down her back and dancing around her earlobes, "I'm looking forward to it."

The sisters left their mother's room and walked towards the stairs in silence. Coco gave her older sister an awkward glance. Despite a relatively small age difference of only a few years between the two she looked incredibly mature. Freshly graduated from Atlas academy, she was a soldier through and through.

Her face held a hardened scowl as if she were a veteran that had seen the horrors of the cruelest wars. Her clean cropped black and brown hair cut short and military style, a matching beret to Coco's the only similarity. Her once pristine uniform clung battered to her muscular yet slim body, a chocolate colored corsage pinned over her heart, the same one that their father gave her just days before the uprisings.

But the most noticeable feature of her's was her weapon. Instead of the old hand me down gatling gun that Coco inherited, she sported a true masterpiece. Only usable by her and powered by her semblance, the " _Equalizer"_ as she called it was almost the size of her even when it was folded into its carrier form. It's stark black and white colors giving off an intimidating presence.

"So I guess it's time for you to meet my team in person. I just know you're going to like them!" Said Coco with forced enthusiasm.

She was genuinely excited to see her old friends again for the first time in months. Once they had evacuated Vale they sort of just split apart to check on thier families. But now that they finally had the chance to stop the White Fang and get payback for the shit they pulled, they were all ready to answer the call to Duty once again. The only problem was, they were assigned to the same regiment as her older sister.

Java gave her little sister the closest thing to a warm smile she could manage, "Yes, they seem to be capable soldiers. That Fox handles himself well in a fight. And that Yatsuhashi guy, despite his less than stellar display in the tournament I'd say he is a solid warrior as well."

Her scowl returned, "But that, _thing_."

Coco stopped her right there, "Velvet is my friend, I trust her. So keep your racism to yourself."

Java's scowl worsened, "You can't possibly think for a second that any of _them_ are even remotely trustworthy. Be thankful that mother can't hear you. Do you have any idea how disappointed she would be to find out that you have made friends with a wild animal!"

Before Coco could respond she heard someone call her name.

"COCO!" Said an adorable voice that could only belong to one person.

Velvet quickly pulled her leader into a bear bug and began giggling like a schoolgirl, "It's been forever! You're looking great, is that a new sweater?" She said with glee.

Coco laughed back, "It's good to see you to Velves, this is my sister Java."

The two looked up to see Java, who was looking at the newcomer with barely contained hatred. Her hands were balled into fists with knuckles white as snow. On instinctively tapping the hilt of her weapon, ready for a fight.

The rabbit faunus gulped, "Well it's nice to meet you Java, I'm Coco's teammate Velvet."

She shakingly held her hand out to greet her. Java stared daggers at her before grabbing it and giving her probably the most awkwardly tense handshake of all time.

"Well now that pleasantries are over, let's head to the docks, we shouldn't waste any time" she said coldly, wiping off her hand on her pants as she walked away.

Coco took a sympathetic look at Velvet. Her cute demeanor was burdened with black bags under her eyes and faded hair that ended in spilt ends. Her ears drooped sadly to the side of her head. Being a faunus in this world was tuff. Being a faunus after the fall of Vale and in Atlas no less? IT must have been awful.

"Hey Velves?"

"Yeah?" Said Velvet, a surprising about of pep in her fragile voice.

The brown haired leader slung her arm around her best friend and smiled, "Don't worry, I've got your back till the end of time."

Velvet blushed slightly, "Thanks Coco."

"Want some coffee to cheer you up?" Asked Coco, holding up her fresh mug.

Velvet giggled, "No thanks."

"Alright more for me then" she said as she took a big swig, downing it all in one gulp.

The two laughed in earnest as they slowly walked down the stairs. Desperate to make up for lost time, and to savor the calm before the storm.

* * *

The next morning on the group's ship, which Merc had lovingly deemed the S.S. Hell Hole, was a strangely peaceful one. Ruby yawned as she slowly opened her groggy eyes. The cabin was quiet, Weiss, Jaune, and Mercury were all fast asleep, Merc's snoring on the verge of waking them up.

She looked down to see her precious corgi snuggled warmly up to her. " _As carefree as always huh?"_ She thought.

She attempted to reach out to pet the adorable little pup but her hand was being held down by something. Confused she shifted around to figure out what was constraining her. She rolled her eyes when she found out. Her blonde bimbo of a sister had snuck into her bed and snuggled up to her while she slept.

As she tried to squirm free, her sister sleepily pull her closer. Her shaggy mess of hair falling in front of Ruby's face.

"So I'm guessing we won't be seeing anymore fights between you two?" Said a voice.

Ruby looked to her side to see Blake leaning casually up against the side of her bed, an amused smile across her face.

The red headed leader blushed and tried once again to squirm out of her clingy sister's grasp. After having failed once again she began to pout, "Wipe that smirk off your face and help me already!" She spoke in a hushed voice as to not wake up the room's inhabitants.

Blake let out a barely audible chuckle, "I think you two look cute like that."

Ruby frowned, "Quit laughing! Ugh, this is so embarrassing! When will she learn that I'm too old for stuff like this?"

Blake rolled her eyes, "Yeah, it must be quite confusing for a girl you age to be treated like this by your sister" she said sarcastically and punctuated with a sly wink.

Ruby's face continued to burn redder than her cap, "Oh for the love of...I knew I should have thrown out those filthy books of yours when you weren't looking, you're a total perve!"

The two let out a round of laughter that nearly woke up the other inhabitants of the room. Yang stirred at the sound and moved to a position that almost crushed Ruby's small body.

The petite girl sighed, "She was like this before I went to Beacon too, I just wish she would give me some personal space for once."

Her cat-eared friend chuckled again before awkwardly looking down at the floor, "She found your scars didn't she?"

Ruby sighed, "Yeah."

The two sat in silence, Merc's annoying scoring and the gentle rhythm of Yang's beating heart keeping Ruby from slipping back into sleep.

Her Faunus friend shook her head, "She just wants to keep you safe Ruby."

The embarrassed leader groaned, "I just don't get why she needs to be so clingy, I can take care of myself."

Blake sat down on the bed next to her leader, her startling amber eyes meeting Ruby's gorgeous silver, "I had a sister you know?" She said.

"What?" Asked Ruby in disbelief.

The onyx haired girl sighed heavily, "Her name was Clover, but we always called her Spring because her timid warm attitude. She was two years younger than me, just like how you are to Yang. We were closer than anything, two peas in a pod."

She stopped for a second to let her words sink in before resuming, "But one day my family went to this massive Faunus rights protest in Atlas. I was five and she was three. Tensions were high, fights broke out, someone got shot, and the whole thing descended into chaos. You've probably heard about that incident, it was the first battle of the infamous " _Three Month War"_ that drove the White Fang to terrorism.

"Blake, I-" The Faunus interrupted her friend, "The last thing I remember that day was a massive flash of light. I woke up to find my mom dead, my father imprisoned, my brother Bismuth...changed, and my sister nowhere to be found."

She closed her eyes and shook her head, "I never found a trace of her, I don't even know if she survived that day."

She glanced at the sleeping Yang and smiled, "Family is precious, they love you and this cruel, fucked up, world just loves taking them from you."

She poked Yang's check. The sleeping grizzly bear moaned and shifted in her bed, constricting her hug around Ruby tighter like a stuffed animal. A stupid smile on her unconscious face.

"That's why you have to cherish these moments, don't let go of these memories. All Yang wants is to protect you, and after she found out what you've been going through, I can tell this is her way of telling you that she won't let you get away from her again. I know I wouldn't if I was in her place."

Ruby stayed silent for a few moments as she turned Blake's words over in her mind. She yawned, "You know what, I'm to tired to throw her off, I think I'll just go back to bed, wake me up for lunch or whatever."

Blake smiled, "Can do, leader."

As her aloof friend turned to leave Ruby pulled Yang's arm tighter around her own waist and buried her head in her big sister's wild golden mane.

"I love you sis, and I promise I won't let this world separate us again." She whispered as the allure of sleep took her once more.

* * *

Ruby half expected to drift into a nightmare as was the norm these days, but instead she felt a strange sensation as the indistinguishable shapes of a dream melted together. Her eyes began to sting as the mosaic of colors began to tinge silver. A feeling of being pulled in every direction nearly ripped her asunder.

" _What's happening!?"_ She thought.

The lights grew more and more bleached till they formed a perfect white sheen before dissipating entirely. The next thing Ruby knew, she was falling at terminal velocity and piledrived into a blanket of snow. The young huntress scrambled out of the depression she caused and began furiously brushing the small white particles from her body.

"Ok, not what I expected, this is at least going better than the usual" she muttered.

As she reached to brush off the remaining snow from her shoulder, she hesitated. She slowly grabbed the handful of pure white and inspected it. With a closer look, the substance seemed to be made up of a plethora of small, malleable crystals, many of which were multi-colored.

Ruby's eyes widened, "It's Dust!?" She yelled in surprise.

Knowing her track record with raw dust and explosions, she leapt to her feet and stood back from the pile in which she landed. As she turned around to look at her surroundings her jaw hit the metaphorical floor.

All around her, as far as her silver eyes could see, the entire landscape was made of pure dust. Sprawling hills of Lightning and Wind crystals danced beautifully into valleys of Earth and Ice. Lakes and rivers of Fire and Water mingled together with Steam in a beautiful mixture. All the while majestic purple clusters of Gravity crystals floated lazily around in the atmosphere above with orange Lava shards wedged into the crevices, making them glow like gorgeous fireflies as they drifted through the cold, moonless, night sky.

The sight of the veritable wonderland was the most incredible thing Ruby had ever witnessed. She had no idea why, but as she slowly took in the landscape she felt a flood of emotions come up from the some ancient and unexplored depths of her soul. A confusing mixture of happiness, longing, sorrow, and above all, shame seemed to invade her mind and manifested as several tear drops that trickled down her cheeks involuntarily. She didn't know why, but this place felt so, so, nostalgic to her, a single foreign thought nagged at her violently in the back of her mind in a nearly inaudible tone.

" _How could you? How could you? How could you? You deserve your torment! How could you? How could you? How could you be so cruel? How could you?"_ It whispered endlessly.

Ruby tried to ignore it, the strain of the voice and of the strange emotions that suddenly flooded her caused her to fall to her knees for a few seconds. When she managed to stagger to her feet once again she saw the figure of someone sitting atop the nearest hill.

Her jaw dropped once again, "Ozpin!?" She yelled.

The man dressed in a tattered green suit turned to her and smiled, the glint of his fractured glasses obscuring his eyes through refracted light. He silently motioned her to sit next to him. She swiftly trudged up the side of the hill, careful not to cause any explosions, and sat next to her old headmaster.

Before he could shake her hand she began bombarding him with questions, "H-how are you here? How am I here? What is this place? Why haven't you tried to stop Raven?!"

Ozpin stared silently into the young leader's eyes, sparkling silver and filled with equal parts compassion, vigor, and sadness just as her esteemed mother's had. The fact that she had to have taken after her so much, including her calling, was a sick joke if Oz had ever heard one.

He sighed, "This place doesn't have a name anymore, not officially anyways, it hasn't for a long, long time. But it has taken on a couple nicknames and personas since then."

He shook his head, "Cannan, Eden, Valhalla, Utopia, Paradise, Heaven, the Great Beyond. Take your pick."

He sighed again, "But that's neither here nor there, we aren't really here anyways, I'm just using our magic to let our souls visit and chat for a bit" he laughed, a hint of bitterness and self deprecation in his voice.

Ruby tilted her head in confusion, "I'm still lost, how can THIS be Heaven? It looks nothing like any of those old stories! And what do you mean _our_ magic power?"

Oz sighed, "This place has a long and tragic history that I won't burden you with. And as for magic well...you're a wizard...surprise!" He said with a half hearted chuckle.

One look at Ruby told him that she was still rightly confused. "Have you heard the story about the four seasons?"

Ruby nodded, "Yeah! I also know that it's true, Merc told us when he betrayed Cinder and joined us. Wait if I have magic does that mean I-" Her eyes widened, "Am...am I a Maiden?" She asked, terrified of the answer she would get.

Oz shook his head, no you're something different, but just as powerful. The maiden's inherit their power from the deaths of previous owners. People like us, people with Silver eyes, we have magic running through our veins since the moment we are born. We are the descendants of the very wizard of that story details. We were breed over a thousand years ago for the sole purpose of keeping the maidens from falling into the wrong hands."

He sighed heavily, "A job in which I have failed with flying colors."

They sat in mournful silence for a few seconds, the conversation being revived by Ruby who was currently doing anything she could from listening to the voice in her head, "But you don't have silver eyes" she said.

Oz chuckled and removed his glasses. He winked and the brown color of his eyes faded away to reveal sparkling silver. "When you've had magic for as long as I have, you learn a few neat tricks." He said with a large grin before returning to his disappointed scowl.

"But none of this matters anymore, that she-devil Cinder has stolen the fall maiden's powers and your traitorous aunt Raven has allied with her and the grimm to seize power. It's only a matter of time before they have full control over all four maidens. In fact they probably already do, if there is one thing Raven was good at, it was getting a job done fast" he said with another forced, bitter laugh.

"So how are we going to fix this?" Ruby asked.

Ozpin rubbed his forehead and sighed yet again, "We can't, all we can do is wait for it to blow over."

Ruby jumped to her feet, "WHAT!?" She yelled. "But if they have all four maidens then their plan succeeds!"

"That's not entirely true" replied Ozpin. "The four are only half the puzzle. To deliver them to their leader they must first reach her layer."

Ozpin chuckled, "The wizard sealed her away behind a magic barrier, deep beneath the surface of Remnant. It can only be dispelled by one of his most powerful descendants."

He pointed to himself and then to Ruby, "Most people with Silver eyes barely have a drop of magic in them and are too weak to use it. You and I are the only two alive that have the power to break the barrier. This is why I'm contacting you. Raven's lackeys are luring you and your friends into a trap. They will capture you and force you to break the seal!"

Ruby gulped, "Then what should we do!? You haven't given me any options yet!" She protested.

"That's because there is only one course of action, inaction." He clutched his prized cane so tightly that his knuckles went completely white, " When I fought Cinder during the battle of Beacon I nearly lost my life, blast this infernal old body! If I was just a little bit younger my magic could have destroyed her! After losing I had to hide away to recuperate, and by the time I was back to health Raven already had me in checkmate."

He turned to Ruby and stared her down, "I know I'm not your headmaster any more but I have one last mission for you. When you wake up tell your teammates about this. Get them to flee with you and hide in a place where Cinder can never find you!"

She lost control of her temper and before she knew it she had grabbed Ozpin by the collar and yanked him up to her face, "Your kidding me right? The great Ozpin is telling me to run!? If I don't act then Raven and Cinder will rule the world! They will start a war with all who defy them!"

Ozpin shrugged her out burst off and pushed her away, "Without us they can do nothing but twiddle their thumbs. As it stands now, Raven is nothing more than a charismatic tyrant. Give it ten, fifteen years and a rebellion will have toppled her and banished these " _Sentinels"_ to the fading pages of history. What is important is that we stay out of her grasp. I've hidden myself where she can't reach and you must do the same!"

Ruby scowled at the man she used to look up to. His confident demeanor gone and replaced with a drafted slouch. "You're pathetic! What happened to the, " _Ozpin the Green"_ people always talked about? Did he die at Beacon? Because all I see is paranoid old coward!"

The old man's eyes flashed with anger and he bolted upright. A wave of invisible magic power flowed from him and made Ruby cringe. A look of anger and frustration on his face that was christened by awe inspiring fury in his silver eyes. Ruby took a step back, not being to excited for a possible fight with one of the most powerful fighters on the planet.

Oz took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, the anger now dissipating from him and the glow in his eyes vanishing. "I have given you my warning, now I must got this conversation short. Talking to you like this for too long will be like broadcasting my location directly to Cinder. And I'm not going to let them compromise me because of your naivety. Goodbye Ruby Rose, may your ignorance see you through the storm to come!" And with a flick of his cane he vanished.

Before Ruby could mull over her professor's ominous goodbye, the gorgeous terrain around her began to fade once again to white. The voice inside her head went silent and Ruby found herself being pulled back threw her dream and back into reality. A reality in which she was rudely awoken by the sounds of shouting and explosions.

* * *

When Blake reached the deck of their ship she was met with a warm, salty breeze that shook any remaining drowsiness from her mind.

"Well you look like a train wreck" said Ren sarcastically.

Blake looked over to see her friends in team JNPR gathered around on the deck, eagerly awaiting for Ren to finish making his acclaimed pancakes.

"If I'm a train wreck then she's an Earthquake" retorted Blake as she pointed to Ciel, who lay passed out on a bench bolted to the deck.

Jaune chuckled, "Found her passed out in her chair at the bridge, were going to drench her with cold water after breakfast. Want to help?"

Blake smiled, "Do you even need to ask?"

JNPR let out a round of hearty laughter before letting their introverted Faunus friend join them for a breakfast of Ren's glorious pancakes. At one point Nora even got impatient and tried to chug the maple syrup and pancake batter while her partner wasn't looking. Neo jovially, and silently, cheered her friend on while Blake and Jaune snickered quietly, waiting for Ren to notice and go ape-shit.

Instead of rolling his eyes at Nora, Ren seemed to tense up and begin looking around wildly.

Nora gave him a curious glance, "Uh Ren? I'm sorry I um, drank the breakfast, please don't be mad!"

Ren ignored her, "Get down" he commanded.

"What?"

"I SAID GET DOWN!" He yelled as he tackled his friends, narrowly missing a hail of bullets that splashed into the water next to them.

Ciel jumped to her feet, wide awake and ready for battle. Ren leapt up as well and shot back in the direction of the bullets.

Neo, still groggy from her sleep, was hit by a bullet square in the forehead. Her aura nullifying it, but sending her toppling over board.

"Vanila!" Yelled Nora in a rage.

Blake rolled to the side for cover behind a bench and peeked over her shoulder, two, no, three speed boats began to circle around the S.S. Hellhole, each one bearing the flag of White Fang.

Ciel shot a look at Jaune, "Get to the control room! There is a device that can allow you to channel your aura into the boat's hull, if we don't activate it we're as good as sunk!"

Jaune nodded and bolted off towards bridge, quite literally dodging bullets the whole way.

Nora switched her Magnhild into it's rocket launcher form and tried to blast the nearest speed boat. She missed and instead sent a large spray of water into the air and brought a drizzle of tuna down from the sky.

" _Stay focused Blake, don't look at the fish"_ she thought hungrily as she returned their enemies' fire ten fold.

The boats quickly circled in and two White Fang lieutenants, one male and one female leapt onto the deck. The guy took one glance at Blake and smiled, revealing his canine teeth, "Bismuth sends his regards, traitor."

Blake froze for a second at the mention of her brother's name but snapped out of her funk at the last second and manage to dodge an attack by his weapon, a massive dust encrusted Rake.

The woman did a backflip and swepped Ciel off her feet with her cast iron hammer. She lifted it to attack but was blindsided by Nora who tackled her to the ground.

Blake lunged forward and stabbed her attacker with full force but used her semblance to retreat when she hit a wall of aura. The lieutenant swung at her again and they clashed briefly. He had strength but she had flexibility. She moved with the momentum of his attack and swung around his side and let off a flurry of shots and jabs at point blank range.

He groaned and fell to his knees. For a second Blake thought she had triumphed but her spirits sunk when he began to smiled. She looked up and realized that one of the speed boats had a gatling gun mounted to it and was aimed directly at her. She dodged as best she could with her semblance but took a massive hit to her side.

She let out a cry of pain and crumpled onto the deck, clutching the now weakened part of her aura. Ren tried to come to her aid but was stopped when the girl threw Nora straight into him.

Blake staggered to her feet but was forced back down to the ground when the gatling gun let off another volley. " _This is bad"_ she thought. The four of them were all being pinned to the ground for fear of being torn to shreds by the heavy artillery, Ren, Nora, and Ciel were barely avoiding the strikes of the female lieutenant, unable to properly retaliate from the floor. The other two ships were blasting all forms of weaponry towards the S.S. Hellhole and causing it to shake violently. The fact that it hadn't already been reduced to driftwood told her that Jaune had managed to get the aura cloak working, but if they weren't able to beat back the attackers, he'd run out of juice and they'd be screwed.

The male lieutenant grabbed blake by the ankle and pulled her over to him. She squirmed and managed to aim a few bullets into his hulking form, however his tanky build allowed him to shrugged the assault off, much to the cat's dismay.

Just like the one from the warehouse nearly two months ago, her opponent grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the floor over and over again. She could barely breath and was losing consciousness fast. She needed an opening and fast.

Luckily that opening came in the form of a more than a little pissed of inferno by the name of Yang Xiao Long. "GET OFF HER!" The golden warrior yelled as she catapulted straight into the bulky faunus with blinding speed. The man didn't even have enough time to counter before his face was buried in a plethora of punches.

Blake felt a cool yet comforting touch as someone pulled her to the side. She took one look and saw Ruby with her Crescent Rose armed and ready for a fight. She smiled warmly, "Don't worry, Cavalry's here."

Just as she finished speaking a lighting fast mercury blasted out of the cabin door, a frantic Weiss and Zwei hot on his heels. Dodging the gatling gun's deadly gaze, Weiss shot one of her Glyphs like a saw blade at the female Lieutenant. She swung her hammer to block but left an opening for Ren to foot sweep her and send her toppling to the ground. Merc smiled and capitalized on the misstep and kicked the excitable Zwei like a rocket propelled, furry, soccer ball that blasted the girl straight off the side of the boat and into the ocean.

"Bark" went Zwei, prodding for a treat as a reward for his excellent beat down of his opponent.

"Not now!" Yelled an annoyed Merc who ran to Yang's aid, who was struggling to keep the other Lieutenant restrained.

Weiss Brought Ciel and the others to their feet and began blasting two of the ships with their own projectiles but were forced to break formation due to the gattling gun and were unable to do any notable damage.

"We need to take that damn thing down!" Said Blake.

Her spunky leader took only a few seconds before coming up with one of her signature over the top plans to take it out. She smiled wickedly, "I got it."

She leaned in a whispered her scheme into Blake's ears, "Still a mad genius as always it seems."

Ruby laughed, "Just get into position."

The two close friends broke their huddle and dashed off to opposite sides of the boat. Blake relayed the plan to Merc and Yang while Ruby informed Weiss and Ciel while Ren and Nora continued to lay suppressing fire on the other two speed boats.

The two brawlers smiled, "I like this plan" said Merc devilishly.

They grabbed Blake by both hands and got into position. Near Weiss who was forming one of her propulsion glyphs on the floor of the deck. Ruby clambered over to the glyph with the other three and gave Ciel the signal.

The military girl nodded and with a quick flash coming from the dust in her skin, she shot a small lightning bolt into the barrel of the gatling gun, stalling it briefly.

"NOW!" She yelled.

Weiss poured all her strength into the glyph and launched the four remaining fighters into the air at terminal velocity. Merc and Yang split apart in mid air, Yang grabbing Ruby and Merc grabbing Blake. And with all their might, through the upwards, increasing the their Red and Black friend's ascent speed even more as they fell downwards towards the other two boats which were luckily distracted by their green and pink opponents.

Disoriented by the winds and height that surrounded them, Blake for a second doubted the sanity of the mind that came up with this hair brained scheme, but one look at her young leader's determined face put her mind at ease. No matter how ridiculous the plan, Ruby would always find a way to protect those close to her, a trait that Blake had yearned for for years.

Her leader gave her an exhilarated grin as they reached the peak of their flight, "Think you can make the shot?" She asked sarcastically.

Blake rolled her eyes, "Who do you take me for? Jaune?" They both giggled.

Just as the two were about to start their descent, Blake wrapped the ribbon of her Gambol Shroud around Ruby and flung her downwards with all the strength stored in every inch of her muscles.

Combined with her speed, Ruby became a crimzon bullet that nearly broke the sound barrier to pieces. I a blood red blur she smashed straight into the floor of the deck of the White Fang Speed boat and broke it like a twig. She spun the flat end of her Scythe blade like a whirlwind and knocked the five or six White fang Grunts manning the ship into the water a dozen feet away.

The gatling gun broke free of it's holster and immediately sunk to the bottom of the Ocean with a loud plunk.

Ruby emerged from the wreckage and gasped for breath as she treaded water. The sound of a White Fang grunt yelling for about how they surrender aloud for her to relax and catch her breath. The defeat of their two lieutenants and loss of their heavy artillery meant the end of the battle.

As she began swimming towards the side of the S.S. Hellhole she heard a panicked yelled come from above and a large splash as Blake dropped into the water next to her, a wave of displaced water hitting Ruby in the face.

Within milliseconds, BLake leaped from the water and grabbed at her leader frantically. "OH GOD, OH GOD, OH GOD, RUBY HELP I CAN'T SWIM!" She yelled.

Ruby didn't know whether to pet her head with sympathy or to laugh at the cat for giving into to yet another cliche. The tiered leader decided to do both.

"This isn't funny Ruby! Just help me, I hate getting wet!"

Ignoring her, Ruby continued to laugh like the little school girl she thought she had abandoned for good.

* * *

"That all of them?" Asked Jaune, needing to be supported by a disgruntled Neo or else he would fall over. Protecting the whole ship with his aura damn near killed him.

Ciel nodded, "All of them, every single one, no casualties."

The dozen White Fang grunts, and two lieutenants. That had attacked the group were now all tied up and thrown onto the deck of their battered ship. Their speed boats tethered to the side.

"That's good, I don't want any blood spilt." Said Ruby.

Merc muttered something inaudible under his breath that made Ruby shoot him a dirty glance.

"You mean you're not going to execute us?" Asked one of the grunts in amazement.

The canine lieutenant kicked his subordinate in the back, "Shut up you ingrate, and don't you dare beg for mercy from these humans and-" he took a look at Blake and spat at her, "-Traitors."

Blake scowled at him however her dripping wet, shaky body being wrapped in a fluffy pink blanket did not do her intimidation factor any favors.

"You don't need to beg, we aren't going to hurt you" said Ruby.

"I didn't promise that" responded Mercury.

Before Ruby could reprimand the silver mercenary, Neo spoke up. "I agree, we can't just let them go, we have to make sure they don't follow us...or report back to their boss." The ice cream haired girl grimaced as she drew her blade from her umbrella and stepped forward.

"Finally, a voice of reason" said Merc.

The canine Faunus let out what sounded like a bark and gave the whole group a deadly glare, "Fine, kill us! Our blood will only pave the way for our cause! The Food Chain can not be stopped, they will devour you all!"

Ruby jumped between Neo and their captives, "NO! I won't let you kill anyone else, I'm putting my foot down once and for all!"

Merc rolled his eyes and stepped forward, "Listen Red, I don't know how you deal with stuff like this in your make believe fairy tales but this is the real world, maybe you've heard of it?"

He carefully nudged Ruby out of the way in the least antagonistic way possible while keeping a stern unwavering expression, "If we let them live they will just come back, with more people no doubt."

Ruby shook her head in defiance, "Then we'll just fight them again, we're the heroes! We need to be the bigger people!"

She stared daggers at Neo, "I've given you the chance to redeem yourself, and you keep throwing it back in my face!" She returned her gaze to Merc, "And to think I was about to give you that chance too. How are either of you any different from these guys? Why should you get to stay here while they get killed! You've done things just as bad, if not worse than them!"

Neo looked down at her feet, unable to answer Ruby's question. Nora went to comfort her friend, "Ruby please calm down, this anger isn't like you."

Ruby scowled, something she found herself doing an alarming amount recently, "Of course it is. I plan on keeping our hands as clean as possible on this journey. Minus your little stunt a few days ago I've done just that!"

Merc threw his hands in the air in frustration, "That's it, you're done!" He yelled.

"Wait what?" Ruby said, caught off guard.

The rest of the group looked towards Mercury.

Merc shook his head, "You joined the huntsmen and you think you can live your life without killing anyone? You're done being leader because you clearly can't make sound decisions. Yang, Blake, Neo, Ciel, heck even JAUNE would make a better leader for the group than the delusional goodie two shoes you turned out to be!"

Ruy gulped, "I'm not going to take criticism from someone like you! And even if one of my friends took my place I'm fully confident that they'd do the same as me, right guys?" She waited for a confirmative yell that never came.

She looked around at the rest of her companions. Neo was clutching the hilt of her sword, wavering between conceding to Ruby's demand and taking the lives of their captives. Nora, a pained expression on her face. She nodded weakly towards Ruby in agreement but couldn't ignore the reason in Merc's words. Ren's eyes were closed as he stood off to the side, refusing to involve himself in the discussion. Jaune had passed out halfway through the conversation and was fully leaning on an expressionless Ciel. The cold and calculating soldier of Atlas unflinchingly keeping her poker face solid as a rock, however something in her gut told Ruby that she agreed with Blake.

Weiss looked like she was going to throw up, disgusted by the situation, but not to the extent of butting in. Yang looked painfully back and forth between Merc, her partner, and her sister. She knew that both sides had arguments she couldn't ignore and personal connections to her that she didn't want clashing.

"You can't stay innocent forever Ruby" said Blake.

Surprised, Ruby didn't know what to say, "Blake what are you-"

Blake interrupted her, "Did you not listen to what Shire told you? You can't keep avoiding this. We aren't some band of knights in Shining armor, we're a couple of screwed up, emotionally scared teenagers trying to take down some of the most powerful people in the world. Do you honestly think we can do that without killing anyone!? Next time we get ambushed what will be your plan? Beat them in a fight and make friends? Believe me that's not how this works."

She let out a surprisingly cute sneeze before shivering, "We can't afford to take this risk."

Ruby was speechless, unable to believe that one of her own teammates were ok with this decision, "I can't let this happen, I-I refuse to stoop to that level!" She stepped firmly in between their hostages and the rest of her allies. Starring The black cat in the eyes. The bond they had been reforging over the past few days severed in seconds.

Blake clenched her fists and sighed, "You're going to regret this Ruby, I just hope you realize that" she said before walking off.

Ciel scowled and began limping off, "Come on Jaune, let's go patch you up and let the kid play hero" she said with a hint of disdain.

Neo gave Ruby a concerned glance before storming off to the cabin, Ren and Nora awkwardly following behind.

Ruby looked towards Yang and Weiss, "Can you two please help me?" She said with as much pep as she could muster.

The two nodded and went over to help untie the hostage one by one. Merc sitting on a bench off to the side, ready to jump to their aid if any of the hostages tried anything.

Upon being released the female lieutenant smiled gratefully and bowed. "Thank you, I never knew a human could be so forgiving and honorable."

Ruby smiled back, "This war won't end if we don't take the high road." She turned her head and shot a glare at Mercury. "If more people understood that it wouldn't have started in the first place."

Weiss gave the lieutenants scathing looks, "We aren't giving you any of your weapons back. And if you try to follow us we won't hesitate to sink you."

Yang nodded and shrugged at her sister who was scowling at the two.

The redhead groaned, "Fine" she said through gritted teeth.

The male lieutenant glared at Weiss, "We might have failed, but you're family is still going down, Schnee" he said.

"You don't know the half of it" muttered Weiss.

The three teammates ushered their former attackers onto their two remaining speed boats and sent them on their way. "We won't forget this Ruby" said the female lieutenant, the shine of the afternoon sun showing off her beautiful cat eyes behind her cracked mask.

Before the crew of the S.S. Hellhole knew it, their attackers had left, now mere dots on the horizon. Weiss sighed, "As much as I hate death I still question this decision. But I'll stand by you, leader." She said with a smile before walking off.

Yang smiled at her little sister, "I don't fully agree either, but you stuck to your guns sis. I'm proud of you." Ruby smiled, but her happiness at her older siblings' reaction faded when she saw Merc getting up.

The silver haired boy sighed and gave Ruby a cautious look. Yang gulped, this was the exact type of one on one confrontation that she was dreading. "I'm not going to fight you on this anymore, what's done is done" he said.

He turned around and began walking off but stopped again, "You're heart's in the right place short stuff. But just be careful, I'm afraid that one day that bleeding heart of yours is going to suck you dry, _leader._ "

And with that he dropped the conversation and headed off to the cabin to resume his nap.

" _We'll see about that_ " thought Ruby, " _We. Shall. See."_


	23. Chapter 19: Meet the Troops

As all good days, Team CFVY's first day in the Sentinels' army base in northern Anima started with a massive downpour. The thick rain drowning the landscape and muting the roar of the airship's departure after their drop off in the swell.

"Well my eardrums are already fucked. Guess we're off to a great start then" said Fox, barely audible over the weather.

"The gathering hall for all huntsmen in training is over there, let's move out!" Yelled Java at the top of her lungs.

The other members of her fourth year team, Team JAVA, trudged forward through the deluge unflinchingly.

Java lead the pack with unyielding resolve despite her ungodly heavy weapon. Her partner, Alice Politza, not far behind.

Alice was a short and scrawny young Woman dressed in a thick brown trench coat and bowler hat that made her look like an undercover agent from one of Fox's favorite old Jasmine Gong spy movies. The strong winds that battered her petite form not budging her in the slightest.

The second A of the team, Fuschia Allonio, was a strange man, ermm, woman, it was hard to tell. They moved quickly and elegantly through the shadows as if they were dodging the very rain drops. Velvet let out a small, cute, sneeze, and in response Fuschia froze and turned his head around to stare her in the eyes with her own set of black soulless orbs peering out through his mime like hite make-up. The two stood there quietly for a few seconds, Velvet scarred stiff, before Fuschia turned away and continued off towards the tents.

"I don't like that guy" said Yatsu as he walked by.

"I can't see him and I can already tell I hate him" said Fox.

The V of the team was an old family friend of Java and Coco, Vericks Ranger. The light brown skinned girl gave Coco a smile and a sly wink when they glanced at each other, her bright pear green eyes lighting up the dreary night with their playful gaze. Her long harlequin shaded hair draped down her back in an elegant braid, covering her dual compact spears.

"If you feel cold you could always come cuddle with me like we always used to, doll face" she said with another wink as she gingerly opened up her camouflage coat and motioned her old friend to join her.

"L-let's keep this professional!" Interrupted Velvet who was clearly blushing at the girl's advances on Coco.

Vericks looked at Velvet and scowled, "Fine, way to ruin the mood rabbit" she said bitterly before trudging off after her teammates.

Coco grabbed Velvet's hand and gave her a warm smile, "Let's get going Velvs."

Velvet once again returned her smile and the two continued onwards.

* * *

"Should the engine be making that sound?" Asked Weiss.

As if to answer her question a loud bang resounded from the bowels of the ship and the sound of grinding chains as well as the lovely smell of melting rubber was present all throughout the cabin.

Merc groaned and rolled his eyes, "I'll fix it" he said disinterestedly as he got up from his bed.

Walking past Weiss, Blake, and an unconscious Jaune, Merc made his way to the door and stepped out onto the deck of the S.S. Hellhole. A massive black cloud billowed out of a nearby hatch with bursting oil bubble sounds lurching from it.

"Why does this place smell like Dad's meatloaf fused with Zwei's shit?" Asked Yang as she came down the stairs from the bridge. Fingers pinching her nose.

Ren leapt from the open hatch and stumbled to the floor coughing and hacking with black oil stains all over his clothing.

"This is beyond my abilities" he said in between coughs.

The rest of their band of misfits gathered around on the deck, Nora, Neo, and an exhausted Jaune helping Ren to his feet.

Mercury gave Jaune a sideways glance, "How much of your aura did you pour into this boat again?"

Jaune opened his mouth to speak but collapsed before saying anything. Ciel rolled her eyes and supported the blonde lug on her shoulders so he wouldn't take a header into the deck.

"I'll take that as a ' _way to much'_ then" replied Mercury sarcastically.

The engine let out a low growl as another plume of smoke came billowing out and the boat came to a full stop.

Ruby gave Merc a forced smile, "What was that you said about being the best mechanic outside of Atlas?"

Everyone else looked at Merc and then towards the pit of smoke before them and took a large step back.

Merc sighed, "If I get cancer from breathing that shit in I'm going to guilt trip you all so hard!" He yelled, another plume of smoke bursting out from the engine room as if to punctuate his point.

"Just fix the damn engine you big baby!" Said Blake before a large vacuum like grinding noise sound burst from down beneath them. She hissed loudly and leapt into the air in response and began clutching onto an annoyed Weiss, causing them to fall over.

Merc rolled his eyes, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

Tools at the ready, Merc descended down into the dark unknown of the ship's bowels. Upon reaching the floor he activated his semblance. While it wasn't as practical in a fight as say Speed, Lightning, or Polarity (How the hell did that last one even work?), his rare ability allowed him to analyze and break down the components and workings of any mechanism in his mind at lightning speed. With a single glance he could tell what every piece of any machine did, how to assemble an exact replica, as well as the best way to destroy it. He hadn't had a single second of formal engineering training, but with his trusty, " _Archimedes' Eyes."_

But even without his talent, a single look told him that there was no saving their engine. Every piece of machinery was either burnt, charred, or melted. The oil was bubbling, the belts were snapped in two, and the whining of the pipes were earspitting.

"Oh boy" said Merc with a heavy sigh. Before going up to tell his friends the bad news he channeled his aura into the machine and allowed it to envelop all the currently active parts. The machine lurched one last time before dying peacefully with a silent exhale of black exhaust.

Merc bowed facetiously, "Your duty is at an end my metallic friend, go in peace." he said jokingly

"What's been damaged?" Asked Ruby as Merc crawled out of the engine room.

Merc shook his head, "It might be easier to tell you want isn't." He went silent.

"So what isn't?" Asked Yang.

"I just told you."

The whole group let ot a collective sigh of aggravation; they were all too tired to deal with this shit today.

"Well what now? Because I sure as hell ain't swimming the rest of the way!" Said Yang, Blake nodding furiously in agreement.

We wouldn't make it anyways, this part of Sannus' waters are particularly grimm infested. Just being stalled here could be lethal!" Said a concerned Neo.

Weiss, Ciel, Ruby, and Blake all took out their scrolls and began discussing ways out of their predicament. Team JNPR and Neo sat in the corner, cleaning off Ren's filthy attire.

Merc plopped himself down on the deck of the Hellhole. Free of the toxic air below him, he took a deep breath and inhaled the salty taste of the Ocean's air. Despite spending almost all his life in either cities or forests. Merc, like any other native of Anima, held a certain admiration for the wide open blue of the ocean. The scent of adventure that rode along the waves and winds was always enough to put a smile on his, and many others, faces. He sighed and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Don't _sweat_ it Merc we'll, get out of this!" Said a cheery Yang as she sat down next to him. The sun lighting up her smile despite the dark bags under her eyes.

Merc groaned, "If you make another pun then I'm throwing you to the first seafaring Grimm I see."

Yang laughed, "Come on, you're smiling."

"I am and I hate it" he said laughing at the end.

The two began chatting like old friends, the less than happy atmosphere of the ship seemingly vanishing as they exchanged bad puns, sex jokes, and other equally mature things.

"I think I have a plan" said Ruby after ten minutes of deliberation.

She expanded her scroll to a larger form and pulled up a map of southern Sannus. "Right now we're here" she pointed towards a bright red dot just off its south west shore line. Blake's ears twitched at the sight of it, a barely visible frown appearing on her face when she realized it wasn't a laser pointer.

Ciel stepped forward, "I found an emergency aura fueled propulsion device, it's like a spare tire, and with it we can make it to shore. More precisely, dock at a large village about twenty miles from here called "Domlacelle."

Jaune gulped, "Oh boy" he said under his breath, hoping nobody would hear. Sadly for him, everybody did.

"You know this place?" Asked Weiss.

Jaune sighed, "Yeah….but it's not high on my to visit list in case you were wondering."

Ruby shook her head, "Well it's our only option. Let's get going team!" She pumped her arms into the air gleefully.

"Yeah, fun" said Jaune with a disheartened smile.

* * *

"What is that ear splitting noise?" Asked Java as their group of eight entered the main tent of the Sentinel camp.

"That my hardass friend, appears to be shitty pop music" replied Fox.

"That can only mean one thing" groaned Alice.

"Team FNKI" Finished Vericks, ever so slightly more happy to reunite with her former underclassmen.

"Do I hear an encore?" Asked a jovial Neon as she finished singing a rendition of her self written " _Masterpiece"_ called "Bow Wow Kissy Cat Wow."

Her question was met with a murmur of distaste and a few muffled " _Please god no!"s_ from her audience.

The cat girl pouted, "You're no fun guys."

Her leader Flynt Coal sighed and put his hand on her shoulder, "Neon baby, you know I love you but, ummm" he snapped his fingers several times as if trying to think of something to say.

He turned to his teammates and fellow band members for backup, "Some help here?"

Their third member, Kombu Cena, was a burly shirtless Gorila faunus with a full brown beard and short hair almost making him look bald, scratched his head with the side of his bongos and shrugged.

"Don't sweat it Neon. You were just a bit off point tonight. It's no big deal."

The leader of Team BRNZ stood up from one of the tent's makeshift tables, "Off point? She was awful!"

A few tables away, Reese Chlores of team ABRN chimed in, "That was so terrible I think you gave me cancer!" She yelled before pounding her hand on her team's own unstable table, breaking it in two and ruining her leader's freshly made tea.

Neon hissed, "I don't suck!"

"Yes you do, my ears are literally bleeding" said Fox bluntly.

"Boo, get off the stage!" Yelled an aggravated Dew Gayl from Team NDGO before throwing a half drunk cup of "People Like Grapes" soda squarely at Neon's face.

The rest of her team facepalmed at her outburst and tried to shrink into their seats.

Dew blushed, "Sorry I uh, just get really passionate about music is all" she said meekly before sitting down quietly. Team CRDL laughing obnoxiously at the lot of them from the corner.

Neon sighed, "Am I really that bad? Slendy what do you think?"

The fourth member of their team, Slender Ink, gulped. He wore a very breathable, yet stylish black suit and hiking boots. His steel V-shaped harmonica mounted in front of him and his jet black electric guitar dangled from his scrawny neck precariously. He looked at his teammates with tiered, sunken, light brown eyes that matched his matted hair and clashed with the dark, bags under them.

"I-I..ummm..I don't know uh…..I guess you could...you know...improve? Gahh please don't hurt me miss Neon!" He said in a strangely deadpanned voice as he half heartedly cringed away from a potential outburst from his teammate.

She sighed, "I guess you're right. I've been missing my beat ever since the tournament."

Everyone in the room's faces darkened, "Mentioning what happened during the tournament, even in passing, was enough to send everyone's moderately good mood straight to hell.

Java rolled her eyes, "Well if we're done with these childish antics we have a job to do."

She stepped on stage and grabbed the mic from Neon, "My name is Java Adel. Atlas graduate and leader of team JAVA. I am your high sargent and fourth in command of the North Mystral Sentinel Huntsmen Army. The N.M.S.H.A. for short.

She stepped down from the stage and began walking through the crowd, shooting glares at anyone who looked at her funny. Not counting team JAVA, who were full fledged Huntsmen, there were a total of ten teams gathered around in the tent including teams CFVY, FNKI, ABRN, BRNZ, NDGO, CRDL. Along with two third year teams from Atlas named SLVR (Silver) and MRBL (Marble) and a two second year teams from Vacuo named JAAD (Jade) and TSLA (Tesla).

Java counted them all in her mind, "We are short three teams. Where are SSSN, CBLT (Cobalt), and PRDT (Peridot)?

"Hold your horses, We're here. Don't know about the other two though" said a sarcastic voice.

Team SSSN emerged from one of the other entrances of the tent soaked to the bone and shivering.

Scarlet's hair was drenched and dangling in front of his face while his best friend Sage's had lost it's shape and dropped lifelessly to the side of his scowling face.

Neptune was positively frightened, fidgeting non-stop while muttering "Too much water, too much water" under his breath over and over again.

After a sigh of pity, the leader of team NDGO gave Neptune a towel to dry off, a gift to which he thanked her greatly for. "Want one?" She asked the rest of the boys.

"None for me" said Sun after she gave two to a grateful Sage and Scarlet.

"You four are late, do you have an explanation?"

Cardin of team CRDL scoffed, "Do you even need to ask? Expecting a filthy street rat monkey to be punctual is like asking a brain dead cat to sing. It will only come back to bite you in the ass."

Neon and Sun both gave him dirty looks before Java spoke up, "Your input is acknowledged private Cardin. Now I'll ask you again private Sun. Why are you late?"

Sun sighed, "Dragging this guy through the rain was about as tedious as you'd think. We're lucky we got here before dawn."

Neptune scowled at him, "Dude don't throw me under the bus like that."

"Enough, that will be all" said Java in an annoyed voice.

"Now we just need to wait for the new general to show up and-"

Before Java could finish a high pitched laughter was heard from outside the tent, "Good day soldiers, and to you high sargent, I'm your third in command here." The front door to the tent parted and in walked a man dressed in black and red.

Sun's face fell and he gulped, "You" he said under his breath.

Carbuncle gave the huntsmen in training a wide smile, his carnivorous red eyes seizing up their strength and experience at a glance. He hesitated a bit when noticing SSSN but simply winked and moved on.

"Pardon the interruption miss but I have an extra recruit from Mystral here, the General asks if you would add him to your roster. Get in Here Alexirus!"

A redheaded boy about Ruby's age entered the tent, the cold rain of outside glistening off the gold shoulderplates of his armor.

"This is young Alexirus Nikos. He is a prodigy, got moved up two years ahead of his grade do to his great skill. One of only two students to do so in the last ten years!"

"Many of you probably have meet the other" he said, shooting a quick glance at Sun who was on the verge of grabbing his staff.

"Wait, Nikos? Your that red haired bitch's little brother!?" Yelled Cardin.

Sun rolled his eyes, "Really Cardin? Phyrra hurt your pride so much that you're going to turn it into a blood feud?"

"Both of you be quiet" said Java as she shot an antagonistic glance at Sun, as if his very voice boiled her blood.

Cardin stood up in a fury, "Of course I have to fight him! With his older sister having gone and gotten herself killed I need to get even with her some-"

Suddenly there was a flash of blinding hot light from Alexirus causing everyone to flinch. When the group's sight came back the young prodigy had knocked team CRDL flat on their asses and held his blade up to Cardin's face.

"Say one more word, I dare you!" He yelled.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS YOU MAGGOTS!" Boomed a deep voice from outside that muted the weather and sent a shiver down the spines of all in attendance except for Team JAVA and Carbuncle's.

The entrance to the tent opened as wide as it could to let a man of pure scars and muscle come inside. The monster of a huntsmen held two Obsidian colored Twin-barreled Shot guns and a faded tunic covering a full suit of dust reinforced kevlar. His eyes were the same ominous color as his weapons, an empty black void, as if the horrors of war had sucked out his very soul. Upon his armor he held two badges, one rusted and faded that read " _Fifth Grand General of Atlas"_ and a far newer one that read, " _First High General of the Sentinels."_

Velvet went as pale as a ghost and Yatsuhashi gulped, "Naslian" said Neon in a barely audible voice that was laced with pure terror.

The dreaded former general of Atlas scanned the room with his hardened eyes. All the faunus of the room stood in a shocked and horrified silence, all except for Sun.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS MONSTER DOING HERE?!" He yelled with pure anger.

Before Java could tell him to shut up Naslain grabbed him by the wrist and slammed him into nearby table.

"Did I tell you you could speak, maggot?" Said the fearsome hulk of a man.

He kicked Sun in the side of the head, sending him flying into the ground at his teammates' feet.

"Anyone else want to speak out of turn?" He asked.

The entire tent remained silent out of fear. The only sound being Sun's muffled cough that spattered the ground with specs of blood.

The smiled cruelly, "Good."

He shot Alexirus an annoyed scowl, "I don't care how skilled you are boy, If you step out of line you end up like this ape here." He made a disgusted hand motion towards Sun.

He returned his attention to the others in attendance, "Now many of you know me as the infamous ' _Naslian the Butcher'_ The disgraced general who was WRONGFULLY jailed for doing his duty and protecting the good people of Atlas from would be insurgents.

Sun groaned, "Insurgents, gahhh" he winced in pain before continuing weakly, "They were protesters, you, you killed dozens! There was so much, so much blood, cough, cough, HACK."

Naslian stepped towards him but Neptune hurriedly lifted Sun to his feet and shuffled away, "S-sorry sir, he's just had a long day. Please forgiven him."

He warmonger scowled once more before turning away. "Insurgents that went on to turn their ' _Peaceful White Fang'_ into the very bloodthirsty terrorist group we stand here to fight today. Madam Raven has seen the error of her predecessor's ways and saw fit to release me from my incarceration and give me the position of High General."

He quickly glanced over the recruits in attendance, spending an extra few moments on the few faunus there, "Any problems with that?"

"No sir!" Said everyone in attention, apprehension dripping from the voices of all but teams CRDL and JAVA.

"At ease soldiers. Now get some rest, because tomorrow, we march off to war" he said with a faint smile.

He left the tent quickly with Carbuncle right behind him, the crazed killer gave Sun a smile and mouthed, " _See you later monkey boy"_ to him with a quick wink to punctuate it.

Alexirus sat with team ABRN and conversation began to restart amongst the recruits but never made it above dreary small talk after meeting their superior.

"I guess someone forgot to tell him that a leader is suppose to boost moral, not drop it off a cliff" muttered Fox darkly.

"I've got a bad feeling about this" said Velvet with a small and terrified squeaky voice.

"Don't worry, everything is going to be ok" said Coco as she took Velvet's hand to comfort her, earning disapproving glances from Java and Vericks.

"I'm not sure, Naslian doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to making things better" said Yatsu, his face a sicked white.

Coco gave him a curious glance, "What do you mean? How are you so sure?"

Yatsu sighed and spoke to his team softly so no one else could hear, "I know, because he's my father."

* * *

"Land Ho!" Yelled Nora jovially as the S.S. Hellhole sputtered pathetically into Domlacelle port.

As the boat weakly docked onto the dock, Neo and Blake stumbled out the bridge, pale faced and exhausted. "Wo-ho" said Neo weakly.

Blake hissed sassily at Nora, "Next time the ship breaks down you get to spend your aura getting us to shore!"

Nora, pretending she didn't here Blake, leapt from the deck of the ship and nearly broke the shabby dock with the force of her excited landing.

"Finally I can ditch my sea legs! I missed you solid ground!" She yelled so loudly at least a dozen villagers around the port were starting to stare.

Jaune stepped out of the cabin and gazed out at the hauntingly memorable layout of the village port and sighed, "Well we won't be here long, we just need to get the engine fixed and we are gone. You have the list of what we need right Merc?"

Mercury nodded and unfolded a comically long list of parts, "Yeah, bad news is it will probably take up all of the Lien that Shire gave us. We better not have another incident again."

Ruby, who was also just coming out of the cabin, nodded, "We'll just have to be careful. Ciel, Nora, and Ren; you guys go with Mercury and help him collect what he needs. Weiss; you stay here with Blake and Neo to watch the boat. I'll go into town with Jaune and Yang to see see if we can dig up some information on the Sentinels' activities here in Sannus."

Most of the gang nodded in agreement except for Jaune, who was incredibly displeased with the idea of leaving the ship.

Yang nudged Merc and whispered to him, "What was that you said about her being a bad leader?"

Merc shrugged, "Jury is still out, check back latter."

By the time they were ready to depart, a large crowd had already formed around the docks to see the strange band of teenaged misfits that had wandered into their town. Most of which were looking at Jaune with surprise and furiously whispering to each other.

The blonde haired boy gulped, "I really think you should let me watch the ship and take Weiss with you. I'm not the best at talking to people."

Weiss gave Jaune an annoyed look, "Oh no you don't. You have been acting really weird ever since we started heading here. What is it about this town that could possibly make you so averse to coming-"

"Jauney? Is that you?" Said a high pitched voice.

A little girl, probably no older than five or six, broke from the crowd and leapt onto the ship. She grabbed Jaune by the waist and laughed as she hugged him tightly, her curly yellow hair dangling in front of her cute face.

"I missed you so much!" She said happily.

Jaune sighed and smiled back, "I missed you too Butterscotch."

"Wait, Butterscotch?" Asked Nora in confusion.

Ren scratched his head, "Isn't that the name of one of your seven-"

Before he could finish a loud cry of several girls came booming from the docks as the crowd quickly parted to make room for what seemed to be a stampede of yellow, "JAUNE!" Yelled six girls of varying height as they all tackled Juane to the floor. The impact casing the ship to lurch back and forth, nearly making Blake and Neo blow chunks.

Weiss looked at the blonde haired dork pinned to the ground with surprise, "Jaune are these your sister?"

Jaune ignored Weiss and fixated on his siblings. "Hi there, Mellow, Cream, Lemon, Goldenrod, Sunflower, and Rapunzel. I'm-"

He sighed, his hands trembling ever so slightly, "I'm home."

 **A/N: Please leave a review if you have any thoughts at all!**


	24. Chapter 20: Of Arcs and Angels

"We're back!" Said Nora with a jovial tone and a skip in her step.

It was already night by the time Merc and the others had collected all of their supplies and arrived at the Arc family house, which Jaune's mother Prisalna had graciously allowed them to stay.

"Put the parts down stairs in the basement sweetie. You can work on the engine tomorrow, tonight you should all relax" she said with a warm smile as they walked through the house's threshold.

The Arc family house was a certifiable mansion sitting atop a high hill overlooking the back end of Domlacelle. It was an old yet sturdy building made of stone with a post Great War flair to it's architecture, leading the group to believe it was created some seventy years ago, about the time the village was founded. The inside was a maze of small rooms scattered around the building in a haphazard layout of twisting halls that went into a surprisingly large floor beneath the ground.

"Thank you for your assistance Mrs. Arc. Remember, we could always look for free space at the town inn, you don't need to burden your family with us" said Ren politely.

Prisalna smiled once again and let out a small laugh, "Oh no, no, no, your my son's friends, I'm glad I can finally have you here, although I wish we had more space for you all."

'It's really no trouble ma'am, we're all used to sharing rooms with our teammates. Oh and thank you for the cookies" said Ruby as she entered the room, carrying an empty glass and plate to the kitchen sink.

Seeing as their rooms weren't fully made up, after placing all their engine parts away, the four teenagers crashed on the soft carpet floor of the Arc families' massive living room.

"Well that was the worst shopping experience of my life, I swear everyone in this village is a bunch of neanderthals" muttered Mercury absently.

All of jaune's sisters shot him a collective dirty look, "Cept you ladies, you're all cool."

Moderately satisfied with his apology, the seven Arc sisters returned to their activities.

The two youngest, Butterscotch and Rapunzel, were busy trying to braid Jaune's hair. He kept telling them he wanted a ponytail, or rather a "Warrior's Wolf Tail" as he called it but eventually caved in and allowed them to make pigtails.

The twins, Cream and Mellow, were shifting through their families' wide selection of movies to play for a late night viewing with all of their big brother's friends.

The sister just below Jaune in age, Goldenrod, was the introvert of the group and found herself sitting in a rocking chair in the far corner of the room. Engrossed in a novel and absently playing with her bright gold underbraid, only breaking concentration when her square poindexter glasses slid out of place.

The oldest of the siblings, Lemon was a full fledged adult if her mature body was anything to go by. She was sitting on the couch with a flirtatious grin and an arm slung around Yang's shoulder.

"Hey there beautiful, you can share a room with me tonight if you'd like, don't worry, i'd keep you nice and warm."

Yang laughed and decided to play along with Jaune's flirtatious sister, "Oh I'm not sure you're my type" she said coyly.

Lemon laughed slyly, "And what is you type?"

"Plot twist, she's asexual and has been screwing with us this whole time" said Mercury jokingly.

Yang rolled her eyes at him and stuck out her tongue.

Lemon slung her arm around Yang, "Don't let him get to you pretty thing, how about a kiss and, wow wait!"

Lemon and Yang both struggled as Jaune and Ruby pulled the two away from each other, "God Yang you're so embarrassing" said Ruby.

"I see you haven't learned what the word 'Shame' means not the time I've been gone" said Jaune to his older sister.

Yang pouted, "Hey we were just fooling around, we wouldn't have done anything risque."

"At least not till past your bedtime" said Lemon, punctuating with a wink.

Jaune rolled his eyes, "Lemon, there are kids here."

"Fine I'll behave" said Lemon.

"I've found it!" Yelled Mellow jovially as she pulled out an old DVD box set.

Weiss gave the twins a perplexed look, "That's a horror movie girls, are you sure you two can handle it? What about your little sisters?"

Rapunzel glanced over at the movie in question and smiled, "Oh yeah! We haven't watched Day 5 since Jauney went to the city to train! Jauney, can we please watch it? Can we please?"

She made a pouty face at her big brother who responded with a laugh, "Put that pout away missy and get the popcorn, were having an arc family movie night, well Arcs plus a few extra."

Weiss gave him a shocked look, "You aren't seriously going to let your little sisters watch a horror movie right?"

Jaune shook his head, "Don't be a pansy, we Arcs love ourselves some good old fashioned horror!"

"We own every single horror movie that has been made in the past thirty years, animated or otherwise" said Goldenrod in a disinterested voice, not even taking her eyes off her Gary Copper novel.

"Yeah, man up ya pansy!" Said Cream in an all to adorable voice as she puffed out her chest in an attempted manly fashion.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you nice and safe" said Lemon as she reached over to cuddle Yang before getting her hand slapped away by an annoyed Blake.

Lemon smiled flirtatiously, "Jealous? I'm sure we could make room for a third. What do you think Yang?"

Yang looked up at Blake with a similar smile, "What do you say Blake? Care for an experiment?"

Blake's cheeks flushed red, "I, ummm, well, I wouldn't, ugh is it stuffy in here?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Yang stop sexually taunting your partner."

Mellow made a pouty face and stamped her foot on the ground, "Everybody stop talking, the movie is starting!"

Ren chuckled at her cute outburst, "Yes, we've had a long journey so far, let's just all sit back and relax for once."

Everyone in their rag tag band of heroes exchanged tired looks and nodded, if there was one thing they all desperately needed, it was a break, and after all they had gone through, a horror movie sounded like a stroll across a beautiful beach.

Nora smiled, "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's start the show!"

...

Coco sighed heavily as her team began walking back from their long patrol along with teams FNKI and SSSN, "Well that was probably the most exhausting hike of my life, seriously, what mad men would live here?"

With a swig of her now cold mid afternoon coffee, Coco whipped off a layer of sweat that was condensing on her forehead and gazed out at their surroundings. The highlands of North East Mistral was quite a sight to behold, plateaus and pointed mountains dotted haphazardly all the way beyond the horizon, the farthest peaks a molten orange behind the declining sun.

"I always wanted to see the Claws of the East but this is far from what I expected" said Neon tiredly as she followed up the rear of the group, Fox and Flynt supporting her as she hobbled forward with her sprained ankle impeding her progress.

"I guess my skates won't be of much help on this campaign" she said in a defeated tone.

scoffed, "You could still get use out of them, maybe you could jet up a rough 90 degree rock wall to save time again! Just because it didn't work the first time doesn't mean you shouldn't blindly try it again! Jesus, I'm blind and even I knew that was a stupid idea!"

Neon shot him a death glare, "Oh, ha, ha, very funny. Go to hell smart ass."

Fox sighed, "What did you say, 'please drop me Mr. Fox'? Well all right then!"

"Wait, no, stop! Gahh you're such a dick!" She said angrily.

Sage laughed heartily at their banter, "You can't let a sprained ankle keep you down! I once broke my foot half way through a ten mile hike, I ran the rest of the way so I could get home before dinner!"

He leaped several feet into the air and onto the nearest boulder, "Now you try!"

Sun rolled his eyes, "We didn't all grow up in the Claws of the West Sage" he said.

As their argument began, Coco turned her attention to Velvet who was trying to hide her discomfort, "Don't worry, we'll get you something to eat back at camp" she said reassuringly.

Velvet shook her head, "That's not it, I'm just worried how we're going to get out of this mess" she looked worriedly out at the mountains.

Coco nodded solemnly, the Claws of the East were a labyrinth that stretched all the way from the the far northeast corner of the Anima continent all the way down to it's center. The only break of its nonsensical pattern of crags and valleys was the massive alcove at its southern end that housed the capital. Somewhere, hidden amongst the countless faunus villages that thrived here, was the largest White Fang base outside of Mistral, and was where the infamous Food Chain lay in wait. A deadly needle in a massive haystack.

"We'll just have to take it one step at a time, it will work out in the end, trust me" said Coco with a smile.

Velvet smiled, "Thanks, you always know what to say Coco, i don't know what I'd do without you."

...

Neo lay lazily on the air mattress laid down on the floor her and Nora, Ren already snoozing, fast asleep on the nearby couch.

"This is so exciting! I love sleepovers!" Said Nora jovially as she leapt into the air and slammed down onto the mattress, sending neo a full foot into the air before crashing back down, nearly destroying the whole thing.

"Sorry" she said sheepishly when Neo shot her a dirty look.

The two remained there in silence, both tired but neither feeling ready for bed. "Um, Nora?" said Neo awkwardly.

"What?" She replied earnestly. Despite the awkwardness between the two for the last few weeks since they were reunited, Nora was still eager for any interaction between them.

"Do you-do you think I'm a bad person?" She finally managed to ask.

Nora was taken aback, a little insulted by the question, "Of course not! What would ever make you-" she paused and sighed, "It's what Ruby said isn't it?"

Neo nodded, "When I was with Roman we did a lot of immoral things, even before Cinder forced us to work with them we certainly weren't model citizens. I was bitter and full of anger towards this world and didn't care what I did to it, or what I did to the people in it. But when I found you and Ren again I-"

A tear started to roll down her cheek, "-I remembered why I wanted to be a huntsmen, to protect you guy, to protect everyone like us, every last orphan, but look at what I've done! How many children do you think I left without parents because of what I did at Beacon?"

Her single tear turned into a flood of tears. Nora pulled her long lost friend into one of her classic bear hugs and held her there till she regained her composure. "You've changed now Vanila, you're helping to make a good difference in the world, you're helping us save it for god's sakes! What's more noble than that?" Said Nora in a loving, comforting voice. "It will be all right Vanila."

The ice cream haired girl pushed Nora away at the sound of her old name, "Don't call me that! I don't deserve it! I'm Neo, the criminal sidekick of Roman Torchwick. Even now, even when I'm trying to fix everything, have I really changed at all? I keep thinking, what if Ruby's right? What if we can get through this without getting blood on our hands? What if-" She paused and began crying again. Once she finally resumed her voice was cracking uncontrollably, "-What if i'm just leaping to the kill option because deep down I like doing it? What if I really am just a criminal psychopath? What if-"

Images of the oozing monstrosity that was Topaz after the experiment flashed once more before her eyes, every bit as haunting as hey had been years ago, "-What if I really am just a monster?" She said, finally giving into tears once more.

However, like Clockwerk, Nora pulled her back into a hug, "You aren't a monster Vanila, no matter what you say, You will always be my loving sister."

Neo let out a sob, "You mean it?"

Nora nodded slightly, "Now and forever."

Neo buried her face into her childhood friend's neck as Nora gently stroked her hair. "Maybe….maybe I don't have to be a monster after all...maybe...one day...I can be worthy of being Vanila again." Satisfied with that uplifting thought, Neo somehow managed to fall asleep right there in Nora's arms.

The pink haired girl let out a soft chuckle, "As sleepy as always, eh sis?"

...

Blake closed her book softly, "The Man With Two Souls" was once her favorite book, but during her latest reread that she had been chipping away at during what little downtime she had after the fall of Beacon, she had grown to hate it with a passion.

The harsh cold of the cruel world around the main character that scorned him as less than human, which had originally drawn her to the book, was now a painful reminder of how awful things had become and how little hope she still had left. The feelings of confliction the main character became all too familiar to her over the past few months. The feelings of regret, hatred, anger, despair, and their slow, sad fall into madness seemed morbidly familiar to her own. (Although she hadn't gone insane quite yet, but it seemed her personal version of this tragic tale was barely out of the first act.)

But worst of all was the ending, a morbid scene of the protagonist's depression and delusions getting the better of him as he lit his house ablaze with him inside. His last moments spent crying tears of agony as he tried to take one last sip of his favorite cinnamon tea, the only source of catharsis throughout the book, but couldn't because one of his souls prefered coffee.

As cheesy as it sounded, Blake couldn't help but cry as she read it over for the latest time. How even after a life of suffering he had the slightest shred of bliss he ever knew ripped away from him at the last second. Even after all the pain there was no peace at the end of the road, he would never again know the sound of Ruby's whistle on a school morning, he would never know the smell of Weiss' expensive perfume that made him sick for a week, he would never know the look of Yang's dumbass smile. She would never know a happy ending.

She looked at the warm fireplace that sat in the corner of the guest room, a small blaze standing strong and proud. Delicately, Blake placed the wretched piece of literature in the burning glow and watched as the pitiable pages shriveled and blackened.

The cat sighed and looked around the fire lit guest room that her team was graciously offered. Yang was nowhere to be seen, her air mattress and yellow sleeping bag empty. Weiss, who had demanded the bed, was fast asleep, her hair undone and scattered around the top of her sheets.

Ruby slept on the opposite side, curled up under the covers like a cute little child. Blake smiled when she looked upon her face, these past few weeks she had held a look of pure anxiety and stress which looking at proved painful to her and the rest of the group, especially Yang. But now, as she slept in a cocoon of warmth, her face seemed at ease. The twisted knots of stress that plagued her all but melted away into a vacant dumb smile that she had once worn constantly back at Beacon.

"Good thing we got her an actual bed for once, maybe now she can get a good night's sleep" she thought happily. The sight of her leader thrashing uncomfortably as her face contorted in fear at her nightmares every night had saddened Blake to no end.

"I'm back" said a soft voice.

Yang walked into the room with a mile on her face, "Did I miss anything?" She asked earnestly.

Blake squirmed uncomfortably and looked away from the blonde as she had every time she had spoken to her on their journey, "Not much, the other two are asleep. Where were you?"

Yang gave her partner a sly smile, "Lemon wouldn't leave me alone until I gave her a kiss. Damn can that girl hold her breath a long time."

Blake chuckled and rolled her eyes, "You're such an idiot."

Yang laughed, "I try."

With that interaction over the same awkward silence that floated between them the past few weeks returned.

Yang was on the verge of getting into her sleeping bag before speaking, "Hey Blake, I think we need to talk" she said.

"About what?" Asked Blake apprehensively.

"You know what" Yang said with a sigh as she plopped down next to her friend, the glow of the fre reflecting off her hair.

"You've been so distant since we reunited" she said.

Blake gulped, she knew this was going to come up sooner or later. Any second her partner was going to blow up on her, she was going to berate her for leave, tell her she'd never forgive her. Blake knew deep down that no matter how friendly she had acted when they met back up the blonde would never truly forgive her for drawing her into danger. A tear ran down her face already, "Yang-"

She interrupted her, "I need to know-"

"Yang I-"

"-if you still blame me."

Blake's jaw dropped, "What?" She said in shock

Yang began stumbling over her words in an apology, "I understand if you do, I failed miserably back at Beacon, you were in danger and I couldn't save you, heck you had to save me. But I've gotten stronger, I won't fail you again, so please, please, please forgive me!"

Blake began to cry, "You're so wrong Yang."

Yang gave her best friend a scared glance, "What do you mean?"

A sob escaped from Blake as the crying worsened, "I'm the one who should be apologizing! If it wasn't for me Adam wouldn't have come after you, you'd still have your arm. You wouldn't have had to suffer so much, I've been nothing but a walking disaster that's brought all of you misery! That's why I'm out her risking my life, to atone for that and fix this. I should be the one asking you for forgiveness. But now you're asking me? Sniff.. Your such...sniff...an idiot Yang."

Yang pulled Blake into and one armed hug, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hurt when you left, but, I think I got something out of all that pain." She looked at her shimmering yellow replacement arm and wiggled her fingers slightly. "This arm, restraint, and even Mercury, the fucking jackass." She smiled and laughed before returning her attention to comforting Blake, "Let's get one thing straight, I NEVER for a second blamed you for anything that happened, and I'm guessing from your reaction you don't blame me either?"

Blake sniffled and nodded. Yang smiled as a result, "Good, now let's move passed this, no more blame, no more regrets, no more tears, and no more awkwardness." She tightened her hug around Blake and pulled hr playfully closer, "What do you say partner?"

Blake laughed, "You're right, let's bury the hatchet once and for all!"

As the two hugged in agreement they heard a whimper come from the bed. "Oh no" said Yang, her smile vanishing.

The two turned to see Ruby squirming in place, her face contorted in discomfort while she unconsciously muttered under her breath, "No, I won't, won't let you, won't let me." She whispered painfully as tear drops began rolling down her face.

Without hesitation Yang quickly and quietly crawled next to her baby sister and hugged her tightly, "Ssh, It's ok, your big sis is here, don't worry. I will never leave you, you're safe, now and forever." She whispered lovingly. Her words seemed to work and Ruby's face softened a bit and she unconsciously hugged back.

Yang smiled, "No matter how fast she grows up that will always work like a charm."

Blake smiled then looked away awkwardly, The sight of the two's sisterly love stirring up some unwelcome nostalgia "Well it's getting pretty late, I should hit the hay" she said, not making eye contact with Yang as she shimmied into her sleeping bag.

"Wait" said Yang hastily as she grabbed Blake's wrist.

"Ruby told me what you told her about what happened to your family" she said.

Blake's eyes widened in surprise, "Well um."

Yang sighed, "I'm a bit salty about you not telling me first but that's not why I brought it up. The point is, you don't really have any family, soooo I guess I wanted to ask you if you want to, you know, be a part of our family?"

Blake was speechless at the offer, "Y-yang I-"

The blonde looked down at her sister's sleeping face and sighed, "With Ruby's mom dead, mine going all 'Glorious Leader' on us, and our dad and Uncle having been caught somewhere in that civil war, we're kinda short on family right now. So if you'd like to join-"

Blake smiled and gladly interrupted her, "Yes, I'd love that, I'd love that very much."

The jovial blonde's smile returned and tripled in size before suddenly, and forcefully, yanked her friend forward, "What, hey wait Yang what are you doing!?" Blake asked as she landed on the bed.

Yang chuckled, "If you're going to be apart of our family you need to get used to one of our longest traditions, the group snuggle."

Blake laughed as snuggled up next to Yang and Ruby, her teammates and new family members, "Ruby is going to be so pissed when she wakes us and finds both of us cuddling her."

She laughed in response, "Oh please, that's the angsty rebellious teen in her talking, deep down she still loves this. But if we're already pissing her off we might as well do so to another."

She grabbed a sleeping Weiss from the other side of the bed and pulled her over "Yang what the hell are you doing?' Asked Weiss, now in a dazed trance, to sleepy to be angry.

Yang wrapped her arm around her side and joined her into the group hug, "It wouldn't be right if you're the only teammate not in our new family, so buckle in Weiss, you're our new sister!"

Weiss let out a groan of exhaustion and answered with a half-hearted response with so little mustered snark that it couldn't even be considered a comeback, "I thought that went without saying, but my god that was cheesy, you sure you and Ruby didn't switch bodies or something?"

Yang shook her head, "Ruby's been way too serious lately. So I have to be the little kid now or else we'd lose our dynamic, and we wouldn't want that would we? Weiss?"

"Yang."

"Yeah Blake?"

"She fell asleep again."

Yang looked down at the heiress who was already lying her head on the blonde's shoulder, fast asleep as if she was never woken up, "So she is."

The black and yellow sisters laughed softly as to not reawaken their family, then quickly fell asleep in the group's collective arms. In her last moments of consciousness Blake felt a feeling of pure bliss wash over her, but just as sleep was about to take her a thought flashed before her mind.

An image of a man sitting crookedly on a rickety old chair as the flames around him licked at his body, just as his thirsty chapped lips begged for a single relieving drop of mercy. A chill so great even Yang's warmth couldn't fully halt it.

As happy as Blake was to have a new family, she knew she was far from the end of her story, and she still couldn't tell if a warm cup of tea, or an hellish inferno waited for her at journey's end.

...

"Your friends seem nice" said Prisalna as she, Goldenrod, and Lemon washed the dishes from their feast of a welcome dinner.

Jaune, who was sitting in a nearby chair allowing Butterscotch and Rapunzel to finish braiding his hair, smiled, "They're certainly a lively bunch, but mom you know you didn't have to let us stay here, I know that food prices have been skyrocketing ever since the fall of Beacon, you shouldn't have splurged on us.

His mother brushed his concern off with a laugh, "Oh please, what kind of mother would I be if I didn't help my son and his friends when they were tired and starving!"

After a few moments of silence between them jaune finally asked about the elephant in the room, "Mom, where's dad?" He asked bluntly.

Suddenly there was a loud shattering sound, "S-sorry, butter fingers" said Goldenrod as she reached for the nearby broom to sweep up the shards of a broken plate.

Prisalna sighed, the worry lines of all her years as a mother showing themselves to be far more prominent than Jaune had remembered, "Butterscotch, Rapunzel,it's getting pretty late, you two should head to bed" she said with a polite forced smile that could only fool a child.

The two nodded happily and went off skipping, completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere that had just set in.

Once they had left his mother sighed heavily, "He left about a week ago, after seeing Raven's broadcast he said he was filled with inspiration and ran off to join the sentinel campaign."

Jaune shook his head angrily, "But he's this town's huntsmen! He's suppose to stay here and protect you guys from the grimm!"

Goldenrod sighed as she disposed of the shards of glass, "You know dad, always placing glory over sense."

Jaune thought he should have been more angry at this news, but instead simply shook his head. He had no right to criticize his father, it was his own lust to be a hero that drove him to cheat his way into Beacon and make life harder on his team, at least now he knew where he got his stupidity.

Prinscana noticed the building animosity towards her husband and tried to defuse the situation, "He said he's planning on ending this war by years end, so please don't be to hard on him, he'll be back before we know it!" She said, barely even able to convince herself.

Goldenrod scowled as best she could without her glasses falling off her face, "Most people expected the Great War to only last a three months" she muttered darkly.

The sense of dread continued to loom in the kitchen and persisted through their now renewed silence. Jaune took the moment to watch the movements of his family. His mother was trying to hold back tears as she continued to wash the dishes with shaking hands.

Lemon was placing freshly washed dishes onto the drying rack with her left and while her left remained in a tight and angry grip on the counter, a small crack forming in its stone surface. Golden had finished cleaning up her mess and was now looking out at the night stars with an unreadable expression, her glasses glinting in the star light giving her a very inquisitive aura.

As the three oldest children of the Arc family, their father placed all his hopes and dreams of their family's glory into them. He always ranted on about how any warrior worth their salt would need strength, intelligence, and heart in equal parts.

Lemon held the strength but lacked the drive and wisdom, Goldenrod had in her possession a wealth of knowledge but failed to grasp any power or passion. As for Jaune himself, he could muster the spirit and courage of a hero, but never the sense or skill. Needless to say, their father wasn't pleased with how any of them turned out, and neither were they.

"Where are you heading?" Asked their mom, who was dreading asking this very question.

Jaune paused before sighing the deepest sigh he had that night, "We're going to check up on my teammates family out west, don't worry, between all of us nothing short of a dragon could kill us."

As the words left his mouth Jaune immediately regretted saying them, the last thing the conversation needed was the word 'kill' floating around.

Prisalna looked to her son with tears streaming down her cheeks, "Please don't go again, I don't want you in harms way anymore. Not after…..what happened to your friend at Beacon."

Jaune felt anger rising inside him at the mention of Phyrra, "I'm not going to die mom, I'll be careful, but I need to do this. I can't just sit on my ass and do nothing. I need to help my friends, its what-" He paused to keep down a sob, "What Phyrra would have wanted."

His distraught mother continued to protest, "But what about what your family wants? I've already lost a son, I might just lose my husband too, is keeping you alive so selfish of me!?"

Jaune leapt from his chair, barely able to control his anger, "Do you not think I can do this!? Do you have such a low view on my skills that you think you need to baby me!? You haven't seen me this past year and a half, I've gotten a lot stronger, I've discovered my semblance! I can do this, I can be a huntsman, so just please belive in me for once in your life!"

The kitchen went silent once again, Jaune looked away from his siblings, "Sorry, I shouldn't have lost my temper, I-I need to go get some sleep."

His mother looked to the ground defeatedly as Lemon tried to cheer her up.

"Jaune" said Goldenrod before he left the room.

"Yeah sis?" He said with little emotion.

"You don't have to prove anything to us, to dad, we love you just the way you are" she said sincerely.

Jaune gave her a smile before turning to leave, "I know that, I know I don't need to prove anything to dad, I need to prove it to myself."

...

Ciel checked her watch, it was well past ten o'clock, Eastern Sannus time. Most of their motley crew and Jaune's gracious family had gone to bed, leaving only those in the kitchen cleaning up, and her insomniac self.

She had gotten up to get a glass of water to calm her nerves. She had been on a permanent edge since she left Atlas, and their brush with death against the White Fang a few days ago wasn't helping her in the slightest.

"Some cold ice water will snap me outta this funk...wait a minute, wouldn't that just wake me up more? God dammit" she thought.

As she neared the kitchen two of Jaune's youngest siblings skipped happily around the corner, the younger one, Butterscotch, locked eyes with Ciel and stopped in her tracks.

Rapunzel gave her a confused look, "Whas wrong Scotch?" She asked innocently.

Butterscotch smiled at her, "You go on ahead I'll be there in a minute."

Her older sister still looked confused but nodded, "Don't let mom see you out of bed though, she'll get really angry" she said adorably before skipping off to their room.

Butterscotch returned her attention to Ciel, her eyes wide with apprehension and child like curiousity. Ciel had noticed her staring at her throughout the day but had not interrogated her about it until now.

"What is wrong?" Ciel asked, bending down to meet the little girl.

She flinched backwards shyly, "Don't worry, I don't bite" Ciel told her with her attempt at a comforting voice.

Despite the militant girl having less skill at conveying positive emotions than Blake, her words still eased the little girl till she was ready to speak.

"Are you Phyrra?" She asked meekly.

Ciel knitted her eyebrows in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?" She asked.

Butterscotch blushed at the question and looked down at her toes, "Well, Mom said Jauney met a pretty girl named Phyrra, and that she made him very happy, but now when people say her name, they get really sad. No one will tell me why, but now Jauney is even more sad then when Daddy used to get angry at him."

She looked up at Ciel directly, "That's why I want to meet this Phyrra lady, she made Jauney happy once, she has to be able to make him happy again. So...are you Phyrra?"

Ciel didn't know how to answer her, of course she wasn't Phyrra, Phyrra was dead and her corpse gone cold, erm warm. But she knew that she had to shield this fragile little girl from the truth. She was too young, too pure to be burdened with thoughts of death.

She remembered when her mother died when she was at Butterscotch's age. She remembered how broken she was afterwards, how she had given up her childhood completely, agreed to be the guinea pig for the dust tattoo implants to get stronger, and dedicated her life to becoming a perfect and immovable soldier, a paragon of justice and order; one that would make a world without tragedy, a world where sadness was an impossibility, an emotion locked away in the forgotten pages of history that lay dead and buried along with the memories of those who fell at her side, with mom, with the person her father once was, with Penny…

"I-I'm not Phyrra" she finally managed to say.

"Oh" Butterscotch said, disappointed, but not surprised.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you" Ciel said sadly.

Suddenly the two heard a few muffled yells coming from the kitchen, even with the thick walls they could tell it was coming from Jaune and his mother. The two flinched and Butterscotch looked like she was about to cry.

"Hey, hey, it's ok, family fight all the time but it's ok. Their love for eachother will only get stronger after this" she said, only half believing her own words.

"Sniff...you mean it?"

Ciel smiled and wiped away the beginning of a tear from the little girl's face. As much as she hated physical contact, this was one instance where it was worth the discomfort.

"Wait I have an idea!" Butterscotch said, a bright smile now on her face.

"What is it?" she asked.

Butterscotch clapped her hands together happily and giggled, "You guys are traveling the world right? That means you guys can look for Phyrra! Please, please, please find Phyrra for me! I want to see Jauney smile again! Can you please make him smile?" he said, her naivety hitting Ciel through the heart like a bullet.

There was no way Ciel could promise her that, no way in hell.

"Alright, I'll do it" she said without thinking.

Butterscotch giggled happily again, "Thank you! Thank You!" The little girl pulled the introverted girl into a warm hug before scampering off. "I have to go to bed now, see you in the morning nice lady."

Ciel waved goodbye then sighed heavily after she had entered her room, "First you promised Penny you'd be her friend forever then failed to keep her alive for more than a year, you promised Neo you'd take down the people who tortured her only for the mto practically take over the world, now you promised a little girl you'd find her big brother's dead girlfriend to cheer him up? When will you learn not to make promises you can't keep you worthless excuse for a soldier!" She thought bitterly.

A few moments later, Jaune walked out of the kitchen, hair fully braided and a defeated look on his face, "Well you look like you've been run over by a Goliath" he said.

Ciel let out a half-hearted chuckle, "So do you and the rest of us, we should turn it into a fashion trend" she said jokingly.

Jaune let out a barely audible chuckle but failed to manage a smile, "Well I'm exhausted, don't stay up too late. Wouldn't want our favorite workaholic to fall asleep in her chair again."

As he walked past her towards his old room Ciel stopped him, "Hey Jaune."

The blonde turned to look at her, "Yeah Ciel?"

She took a deep breath, "I-I'm sorry about the way I acted a few days ago. I was bitter about our situation and took it out on your team, offending you and...our fallen comrades memory. I want you to know that this little pack of misfits we've made, it means a lot to me, and if you've got my back, I-"

She paused a moment to think about the conversation she had just had with his little sister, 'Make him smile again" she said. Ciel might not be able to do much, but that sounded doable, even to a stick in the mud like her.

"-I promise to do everything in my power to see us all through this shit show safely, and kick the bitch who did this to our friend's ass while we're at it. What do you say?"

There was a long pause after she finished before Jaune's signature goofball smile grew across his face, "Ok Ciel, you've got a deal, we're in this together."

...

As teams CFVY, SSSN, and FNKI finally reached the outer edge of the Sentinel camp they were treated by a young man and woman wearing matching Atlas academy uniforms.

"There you twelve are, we were beginning to think you were captured" said the girl in an emotionless and business like voice. She was roughly Velvet's height minus the ears and sported short, indistinct black hair atop a pair of bland brown eyes.

"You better have a good explanation for being late" said the boy. His hair was a generic brown military buzz cut with boring Hazel eyes.

Flynt looked at the two with surprise, "Ebony, Regulus? I didn't think you two would be here after...what happened."

Ebony shook her head, "The death of miss Polendina and the disappearance of Ciel were unfortunate, however we won't let that get in the way of our duty. Even without them team CPER is strong enough to fight" she said, no real emotion backing up any of her monotone words.

"As stiff and heartless as ever those two, what else can we expect from Atlas' best first year students" muttered Kombu under his breath.

Neon shrugged and hobbled forward, "I sprain my ankle a couple miles back, it's my fault we're late" she said with uncharacteristic solemnity.

Regulus sighed, "A mediocre performance as usual FNKI. You need to shape up or be left behind. We in the Sentinels will not tolerate your foolishness, now get to the dining hall before they pack up, we don't need you starving on us."

As the stoic wonder twins left to check on the rest of the camp Fnki all sighed heavily, "First day and we're already blacklisted, business as usual I guess" said Slender gloomily.

Neon shook her head, "Don't beat yourselves up guys, it's my fault."

Coco stretched and yawned loudly, "Well what's done is done. Let's all get some grub to make us feel better."

"Here, here" said the group reverently.

As they walked through the makeshift Sentinel compound they noticed an unfamiliar man in important looking armor discussing something to Naslain.

"Who's that guy talking to the general?" Asked Sun, the word general filled with extra disdain.

Alexiris, who was leaning up against a nearby post was the one to answer him, "That's our latest comander, our second in command to be precise" he said, an unreadable mix of emotions on his face as his sharp gaze remained fixated on the new arrival.

Neptune squinted his eyes to get a better look, the shimmer of the man's bright white armor and broad sword making it harder to see in the sweltering sun, "Who is he?" he asked.

Alexiris sighed, "Take a wild guess."

As the new officer finished speaking with the general he looked over his shoulder to see team SSSN looking at him. He smiled, "Hello there recruits, fine day for a march isn't it?" He said with booming sincerity.

As he stepped closer and closer to him Neptune's eyes widened, "No fucking way" he and Sun said speechlessly under their breaths.

The well built man was now standing in front of them, his dazzling armor making him look like he leapt off the pages of an old fairytale about knightly heroes. His short, wind whipped blonde hair and bright blue eyes seemed to glow with purpose and pride.

"You must be team SSSN from Haven. I'm your second in command for this grand campaign, Atlas graduate and valedictorian, former member of the acclaimed team JSPR,and old acquaintance of the famous Edna Scarlet, Jacob Cemalt, and Winter Schnne-"

He grabbed Neptune's hand and shook it, a big smile on his face making him the spitting image of their friend Jaune, "-Sir Pale Arc at your service. Now boys, let's go win us a war."

 **A/N: Once again, DUN DUN DUN! Stay tuned for chapter 21 "Teeth and Ambitions Laid Bare" Also all my chapters are up on the RWBY Amino now so if anyone wants to chat with me or read them there you can. My user name is the same there as it is here. Please leave a review if you have any feed back!**


	25. Chapter 21: Teeth and Ambitions

**Welcome back everyone, for another chapter, the gap between this one and the next might be longer than usual so don't worry if I don't upload, school and stuff is, you know how it is.**

"Thanks for agreeing to help me fix the boat Ren" said a grateful Mercury as the placed the new engine down on the deck of their ship.

"No problem" the ninja responded as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

It was late morning and the sun was reaching the end of its ascent into the sky above. The market square of the village of Domlacele was just beginning to pick up speed as it left its early morning stupor.

All the stalls and shops were open for business and it seemed like every citizen with Lein to spare was pouring into them. Ren even spotted Jaune's sister Goldenrod snooping through the piles of dusty old books in one booth. Lemon was also there, chatting up a few rich girls her age as they passed through town on their way to the next village, they all rolled their eyes and scoffed at her as they walked away; all except for one of them who slipped a piece of paper with her scroll number on it. Lemon waited till they were out of earshot before pumping her fists in the air and running to Goldenrod to tell her the good news.

Ren smiled at the sight, it seemed the ill mood that plagued remnant, particularly Sannus, was beginning to subside, it was just too bad that it was all because of a dictator's master plan to conquer the world.

"Can you pass me that wrench?" Asked Merc, who was already halfway down the ladder and into the engine room.

Ren looked away from the bustling crowds and returned to helping his alley with the repairs.

The two worked tirelessly in silence for nearly an hour before Ren spoke again, "So Merc, I needed to talk to you-"

"I knew it!" Said Merc smugly but without offense, "Let me guess, it's about that girl of yours Nora."

He blushed slightly, "Yes it is but, wait what do you mean by 'that girl of yours'?" he said defiantly.

The silver haired ladies man chuckled, "No need to be embarrassed, it's pretty obvious to everyone that you two are crushing on each other hard, even with all the sexual tension you two have been going through recently."

Ren looked a combination of angry and flustered as the normally eloquent young man began stumbling over his words, "S-sexual tension!? Don't be ridiculous! That has nothing to do with anything!"

Merc simply chuckled again, "I see, I see, well just so you know you've come to the right place for advice. You just happen to be in the presence of the sexiest 5-star ladies man on this side of Sannus!"

He smirked and flexed his muscles but stopped when he noticed the unamused and serious expression on Ren's face "That is not what I wanted to talk to you about."

Merc sighed, his own expression going serious, "Then let me guess again, it's about your father, Cyan."

Ren nodded grimly, "I kept his existence a secret from everyone, from Nora, my whole life and I hoped to keep it that way, but now the cat's out of the bag and everyone is struggling to trust me, especially Nora."

Merc put his hand sympathetically on his friend's shoulder, "Yeah, that why you came to me right? Us bastard sons of heartless assassins need to stick together right?" He said, only half joking.

Ren smiled and nodded before scowling at no one in particular, "That's not the only secret I've been keeping. There is another, one far more awful, I promised myself I'd never let Nora know, for as long as I live."

He shook his head sorrowfully, "But after what happened with Cyan, I don't think I can keep it a secret much longer, the guilt, it's eating me up."

Merc sighed, "I know a thing or two about guilt, you can tell me if you want, to get it off your chest y'know. I won't tell."

Ren mulled the idea over in his head for a little bit before agreeing, "Ok, but you have to promise-"

"Yeah yeah, I know, don't tell Nora as long as I live, cross my heart and hope to be brutally ripped apart by a wild animal and blown to pieces" he said facetiously but with a certain sincerity to his voice.

Ren shook his head vigorously, "No not that, I know you aren't going to tell her, what I need you to promise me is this. If-if something happen" he paused a moment to take a deep breath, "If something happens to me before I'm ready to tell her, if I die, you need to be the one to expose it. She deserves that much."

Merc nodded solemnly, "I swear."

Ren sighed in relief, "Ok, it all started with a game of football."

….

"Where is it!? Oh god Where is it!?" Yelled Coco as she frantically tore through her belongings.

Velvet sped through the door to find out what was the matter, Fox and Yatsuhashi right behind her, "What's wrong Coco? Please calm down."

"Yeah, Please. You're scaring half the camp" said Yatsu worriedly.

Fox scoffed, "You sure you're not on your period leader?"

The chocolate haired girl shot him a murderous and slightly crazed glance through her dark sunglasses.

Even though he couldn't see it, he felt their anger enough to cringe, "Ok, joke times over, got it, now what's wrong?"

Coco sighed heavily as she resumed turning over their team's incredibly small temporary quarters, "I can't find my Coffee ingredients. I don't know how I could have misplaced it, the bag was massive, it was suppose to hold me over though the entire campaign! If I can't find it then" she gulped, "Then I'll fall asleep."

Velvet took her leader's hand, "Don't worry, we'll find it. I'm not going to let you go through those nightmares again."

Coco blushed, "T-thank you, Velvet."

Yatsu nodded, "We'll find them, we're here for you."

Fox gave a nonchalant shrug and agreed to join in the search.

A voice echoed out from the hallway, "If you want to help then ignore her little tantrum." From outside, Java and Vericks stepped into the doorway, the green haired huntsmen looking guilty and Coco's sister holding a big black bag in her left hand.

Coco's eyes widened at the sight of it, "My ingredients! You found them sis!"

Java smiled, "Of course I did, what are sisters for if not for helping their family when they're in need?"

She dropped the bag in front of her and Coco quickly and gleefully opened it only to freeze in place. "What?" She said weakly.

She flipped her bag upside down and shook it, the only thing to come out was a single Coffee grain.

A tear ran down Coco's cheek as she looked up in disbelief at her sister who held a satisfied smile on her face.

"Where are they?" Coco asked in a small voice.

Java replied in a somewhat aloof tone, "Now? Probably over a mile away if I had to guess. It's so hard to tell for sure though, we did throw it in the river quite a while ago-"

Coco leapt to her feet, pure anger replacing her sorrow, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST DID!? She grabbed Java by the collar and slammed her into the wall, her sister not even flinching.

"Coco stop!" Yelled Vericks, a pained expression on her face.

Her old friend gave her an enraged glare, "Not one word from you" she said, her voice overflowing with venom.

Velvet put her hand on her leader's shoulder, "Coco, please calm down!" She pleaded.

Java shot the faunus a disgusted look, as if touching her sister in anyway shape or form was a personal insult to her, "Stay out of this rabbit, this s between us."

"Don't call my best friend a rabbit, you've already done one unforgivable thing today" spat Coco.

Java rolled her eyes, "Unforgivable? Now I know you've spent the last four years living in a city infested with lying, cheating, animals, but surely you haven't forgotten what a good deed is have you?"

Coco's eye twitched, "A good deed!? How is throwing out the one thing that is keeping me from watching our parents die on repeat every night a good thing!?" She screamed.

Java grabbed Coco's hands and with one strong and fluid motion flipped her over and slammed her into the cold ground.

Velvet rushed to her leader's side and Fox and Yatsu drew their weapons, "What's the big idea jackass?" Yelled Fox angrily.

Java shook her head, "Don't, I'm not here to hurt anyone, much less the son of our esteemed general" she shot a somewhat respectful look at Yatsuhashi.

She returned her gaze to Coco, something resembling pity in her eyes, "Believe me sister, I get it. I've seen that same bloody scene play out countless times in my sleep, Far more than you have, since luck gave you the perfect little skill to avoid it. But as it is in this world I had two choices, adapt or die. I evolved, I worked past that fear, that mental block that kept me awake at night. Slowly but surely I began to reclaim control over my mind. I haven't had that dream in over two years."

She glanced at her sister's empty bag of Coffee ingredients and sighed, "But you have used your semblance as a crutch. With it you've ignored this problem for years hoping that you'd never run out of your precious little chemical that kept all your fears at bay. It's time you stopped running and faced them. It's time to do as I have and leave that closet, that mine, and move on."

Coco shook her head as Velvet helped her to her feet, "Moved on my ass! You're hate for faunus has only gotten worse! I've forgiven their race for the actions of a few psychos. But you haven't!"

Java scowled, "That is another problem entirely. The faunus are walking, talking animals, nothing more, nothing less. It is our duty as Sentinels to keep them from hurting the innocent. And if our parent's deaths and the fall of Beacon hadn't written that objective fact in stone for you, then-"

She looked Velvet dead in the eyes causing the little bunny to jump, "-then this vermin has turned you into quite the puppet."

She gave her younger sister one last look, her eyes filled with a mixture of bitter rage and a hint of sour betrayal, before turning to leave the little hovel team CFVY called their quarters.

Just as she reached the door she turned around to give one last message to Coco, "When we walked out of that hell hole alive all those years ago I promised that I'd do everything in my power to keep you on the right path. I was hesitant to allow you to go to Beacon, and now I know for a fact caving in to your demands was a mistake. Now I'm going to correct it, my way. Welcome to rehab little sis."

And with that she left the room, not bothering to stay and watch their reaction. Vericks sighed and gave her Coco a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry Cokes, but trust me, things will get better." The green haired huntress looked away sorrowfully and shut the door, leaving CFVY alone in silence.

….

"If you say 'I don't like this' one more time Sun then I'm going to punch you in your pretty little face" said Neptune annoyedly.

Sun groaned in frustration and dragged his fingers through his blonde hair, "But I'm serious! Putting that guy in charge of their whole army? Just what the hell is this Raven thinking!?"

Sage, who was leaning against a wooden post and drinking his favorite energy drink shushed him, "Keep it down, do you want someone to hear you? If someone tells the general that you spoke out against him again he'll whip you for treason."

Sun sighed before his best friend Neptune patted him reassuringly on the back.

The three of them and their flamboyant and lovable fourth wheel Scarlet were all gathered around a table in the empty main tent. It was late afternoon and they were on their mandatory daily break, however Sun had a sneaking suspicion that if Naslain were to walk in right that second he would have yelled at them to get back to work anyways then leave. Not before calling him a filthy animal of course.

Sun ran his fingers through his hair for about the millionth time that day, "I'm just worried, it's bad enough with everyone blaming the faunus for the White Fang attack on Beacon. It was enough to make us have to wear those god damn badges around school for god sake. And now we have someone in charge of the Huntsmen, sorry, Sentinels who is perfectly ok with unleashing the most racist military leader since Lagune on one of the most heavily faunus inhabited regions of Remnant!"

He sighed mournfully, "Things just keep getting worse and worse. I hope Ruby and the others find a way to fix this fast."

Scarlet spoke up, "And we'll have to keep hoping. Because right now all we can do is make sure to keep him in line, well, as best we can. There are too many ways this could go wrong with him at the wheel, we need to be here when things go paws up."

Sun gave him an aggravated glare, "Sorry, that was a poor choice of words" said the pirate sheepishly.

Sage shook his head, "It just doesn't make any sense. Why would Raven do this? Jacob is well respected and talented. Plus he knows every inch of Mystral like the back of his hand. Why not make him the general and avoid any controversy over bringing back Naslain? Some people already view her as a conqueror, appointing a warmonger like him certainly won't help her image."

The four muddled these concerns over in silence for a few moments before they heard a commotion from outside.

Quickly team ABRN came storming into the tent, Reese livid with anger with nadir trying to calm her down while Bolin supported a beaten and bruised Arslan. "What the hell happened!?" Asked Sun.

Reese looked at him, "Our 'General' just beat our leader for speaking out of turn! He is a monster and completely out of control!"

Sun grit his teeth in anger, "What did you say?" Asked Neptune inquisitively.

Arslan winced in pain from her wounds as her aura healed them, "Well we were on a scouting mission with team BRNZ to the village just southeast of here, 'Ampalona' it's a pretty small farming town filled with almost all faunus. They greeted us with suspicion, can't blame them though, we have an army at their front door. We asked if they knew of any White Fang activity in the area, they said they didn't."

Reese growled in fury, "We told this to Naslain and he said they had to have been lying, that we needed to go back there and force them to give up all their weapons just to make sure they wouldn't attack us when we march through town tomorrow."

"That's crazy!" Said Sun, "With how dangerous things have gotten out here they need to be able to defend themselves against bandits and the Grimm. Without weapons the whole village would be dead in the water!"

Arslan sighed, clutching her injured side, "That's what I told him, I said I'd refuse to cripple them, so he, gahhh" she winced in pain, "He said he'd cripple me."

Reese looked like she was about to scream, "He is dead, I don't care if he's out of my league, he is going down!"

Arslan grabbed her teammate by the shoulder "You will not raise a hand to him, that's an order. He'd kill you without a second thought. The only reason I'm not comatose or worse right now is because I gave up after the first strike."

The two fiery woman of team ABRN stared eachother down for a few silent seconds before Arslan spoke in a surprisingly soft voice, "Please Reese listen to me on this, if not as your leader, as your girlfriend, please don't pick a battle you can't win."

Reese sighed, "You're right, god those puppy dog eyes of your's are persuasive. Come on let's get you to team NDGO's room, they'll patch you up nice.

ABRN said goodbye and left for the camp barracks with a hobbling Arslan in tow.

"He is a monster." Sun repeated once again through gritted teeth, his knuckles having turned bright white from being clenched so long.

Neptune looked his friend concernedly in the eyes, 'Please Sun, I know what you're thinking and it's not going to end well. You're already on his hit list just by being a faunus, you don't need to provoke him."

"But Neptune-"

"No Sun, I-Sage Scarlet and I don't want to see you make a decision you'll please keep you're cool, for us?"

Sun looked his friend in the eyes, his expression more serious than it had ever been. The Monkey sighed once again, "Ok."

….

"You called for me miss Raven?" Asked Edna happily as she waltzed into her leader's office.

To her surprise, Raven had done little to change the layout of Ironwood's office. It was still the drab and annoyingly stark white and symmetrical square that it had always been. Every bit as boring as its old owner.

Raven sat in ironwood's uncomfortable looking chair, her expression strict and cold as usual. Sitting on an unremarkable couch to her right was Aibori Schnne, the disgruntled businessman looked annoyed by Raven's call for him to be present during the debriefing and was eager to return to his work on the latest project Raven had asked him and Sol to complete. It was top secret, even she and Jacob did not have many details. All she knew was it had something to do with the maidens.

To her left sat their demon compatriote herself, Cinder Fall. The young woman was wearing her typical red dress and contently sipping away at her cup of tea. Sitting tentatively next to her like a lost puppy was her pet thief Emerald who seemed to wait on her every word.

Raven, who was sitting stiff and straight in Ironwood's desk's uncomfortable looking chair., cleared her throat as she began to speak, "Why yes Edna, I have a mission for you."

Edna smiled with interest, "Oh do tell madam! I assume it doesn't involve helping the riff raff in Anima exterminate the White Fang? The mud there would positively ruin my new shoes!" She said with a chuckle.

CInder scoffed, "An obsession with the appearance of trivial clothing, how disgustingly human."

Edna rolled her snake like eyes, "Says the one wearing the gorgeous red dress. By the by I have to get your tailor's number-"

Raven shot Edna a piercing glare and the ditzy headmaster silenced herself immediately, there are very few things in Remnant that Edna dained to respect, and Raven's authority was one of them.

"If we are done talking about fashion like first years then let us get down to business. Edna, as you may know, Ruby Rose and her insurgents group has left the Mystral capital and are en route to Vacuo territory. I am placing you in charge of apprehending them at their destination."

Edna scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, "Why is it that you're sending me to deal with a few children? Honestly I'd have preferred the mud."

Raven rolled her eyes, "Young Winter I have our hands full boosting the public image of the Sentinels. As we stand now it is more important than ever to appear as peace bringers rather than conquerors. Naslain, Carbuncle, and your old friend Pale are occupied grappling with the White Fang army in Anima and Mr. Schnne here and Dr. Sol are busy with project Arsenal."

She sighed, "Not to mention the maidens; Spring, Winter, and obviously Fall are in our grasp but Summer escaped from her containment. Jacob, Cyan, and Azure are on hot on her trail and can't afford to break from it."

Edna glanced over at Cinder who was currently taking another relaxed sip of tea, "And as for our ambassador? What is it that she is doing?"

Cinder chuckled, "I have been dedicating my time to finishing our little grimm dragon's training. He is such a powerful beast that controlling him takes effort. Once m'lady Salem is freed from her prison, we wouldn't want the beast getting overly excited and burning a kingdom to the ground now would we?" She said with an ominous smirk.

Edna gulped, "I-I see, carry on with that. So, where are these toddlers heading?"

Raven gave her ally one of her rare smiles, "They are following a lead planted by Azure Cascade. Their destination is none other than the 'Cave of Vices and Virtues'.

Edna felt a jolt of excitement throughout her body as a massive grin began to stretch across her face, "Now it all makes sense" she said happily.

Raven nodded, "As its discoverer and one of the few who can tap into its 'unique' properties, I'd like you to be the one to intercept them. You have three objectives, First; have the young miss Rose activate the 'Looking Glass'. Second; capture mine and Aibori's daughters alive. Third; terminate all others in attendance with extreme prejudice. Do you understand?"

Edna nodded gleefully, "Oh this is going to be so much fun! I haven't gotten the chance to use my semblance to its fullest potential in a long time. I can't wait!"

Cinder spoke up, "If I may interrupt your childish joy, there is one more requirement. I have reason to believe my assistant Emerald is capable of manipulating the Cave as you do. I would like you to head there with her Immediately and teach her how. It will not only help her grow her strength immensely, but it will be of great help to you in ending the threat of that wretched little girl and her team once and for all."

Emerald stepped tentatively towards Edna, "Hi, I-I'm Emerald, I, um, I'll make sure not to slow you down."

The headmaster gazed into Emerald's eyes for a few moments before nodding, "She is capable, oh this is truly going to be fun. Come, let us leave and begin your training immediately my new apprentice!"

Before they could part from the meeting Aibori chimed in for the first time, "One last thing dear Edna, it's about my daughter, Weiss."

The ditzy headmaster nodded, "Don't worry, I'll make sure she gets home to you in one piece old friend" she said mockingly.

Aibori shook his head, "I will hold you to that, but there is one problem. Her abilities have been progressing faster than I thought possible for her, she is a wild card that if allowed to fight, could ruin your mission. Luckily, I have prepared for the event in which one of my children betrayed me."

Edna gave him a curious look, "And what exactly have you prepared?"

Aibori smiled wickedly, "Tell me dear Edna, how is your singing voice?"

…

The nightmare was a million times worse than it had been in a million years, fire everywhere, gunshots all around, the blood of Faunus running like water across the dirt roads of the village.

"What's going on? Who are those men in white?" Asked a small six year old girl as she cuddled with her older sister for warmth in the town safe house.

Her sister was too busy fighting back a panic attack to answer, and her mother was nowhere to be seen. Her father was standing strong in the center of the dismal room, his shimmering armor giving him the appearance of a fierce bird of prey. His bright eagle eyes analyzing the situation.

"There is no more hope, this is the end of the Sky clan!" Said a distraught woman as she clutched the unconscious body of her husband.

The little girl's uncle punched the wall and yelled in anguish, "That monstrous Aibori, taking our matriarch as his 'assistant' five years ago wasn't enough? You had to come back for more!?"

A young man spat hatefully at the ground, "Damu was right, Naislain and the Schnnes won't be satisfied until every last Faunus is chained! That slaughtered protest last month was only the beginning! We should have joined his White Fang army when we had the chance!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Bellowed the girl's father, silencing all in attendance.

He looked around at the sorry state of the tribe's survivors, numbering under a fifth their already small size from the morning, his wife missing, trapped out in the slaughterhouse that was once their village's square.

He sighed heavily, "I'm not going to lie to any of you, the chances of us living to see tomorrow are slim, even if we do there won't be much left to rebuild."

He took a deep breath and stood up straight, arming his gun and placing it proudly at his side, "But we are the Sky clan, the proudest and most respected Faunus clan in all the world. Our abilities and our rare bird like features are the envy of many, and the fear of others."

He stepped forward purposely, the golden symbol of eagle wings emblazoned upon his armor glistening in the strained moon light. "We select few have weathered thousands of storms as humans have attempted to snuff our breed out of existence. We have stared down impossible odds countless times and never flinched. So although our brothers may lay slain, our lands may lie salted and barren, and our beloved matriarch may be stolen from our grasp, but like glorious birds of prey we spread our wings wide and soar above the carnage! They may never take our pride, they may never take our courage, they may never take our freedom!"

For a brief moment, all in attendance felt their hopes fly high once again, only for its wings to be clipped and watch it fall to the cruel earth.

That was all they could do, watch, watch in horror as a large spear of ice came whizzing through the door and impaled the girl's father through the chest. With a sickening gasp for breath and a look of shock and fear, the man toppled to the floor, lifelessly.

All went silent, from the fires engulfing the town they heard the sound of a sarcastic, slow clap. Through the broken door, a man wearing a white and blue suit stained with blood waltzed into the dirty hovel, an Estoc dyed bright red at his side. He had the faintest of smiles on his otherwise bored face and a twitching white mustache that sat under his uncompassionate eyes.

The man shook his head "Well that was a subpar speech now wasn't it? Nothing but empty rhetoric and flimsy pathos. Not a drop of decent logos or shred of ethos either? Then again you creatures aren't know for being smart or credible, beasts of emotions as always" he said in a very matter of fact tone, his eyes scanning over the shaking occupants of the building, silently counting as if he were taking inventory.

"Who are you?" The little girl whispered in terror, but was quickly shushed by her crying sister. She felt the tingle of warm blood spread across her back, her sister was wounded, and bleeding out fast.

He shook his head in annoyance and used his handkerchief to wipe blood from his gloves, staining the snowflake design upon it, "Barely anything worthwhile left, I knew I should have told Carbuncle and Azure to hold back and not kill everyone in the village. If they think I'm going to give extra funding to L.E.G.I.O.N. after this shameful display they have another thing coming" he muttered under his breath.

One of the young men slowly stood up, sword in hand, "Y-you're him, your, him!" He began chuckling like a madman, "Finally! It's time for you t-"

Before he finished, Aibori rolled his eyes and materialized a white glyph the size of a chess board from his hand and threw it forward. The spinning disk of aura cut the rebellious young man clean in half like a buzz saw before dissipating. All the cowering Faunus screamed in horror at the gory sight, all except the little girl who simply watched in stunned silence, absorbing every detail.

The man sighed, "Well this has been a disappointment" he glanced to his side and saw the two siblings huddled together, his eyes locking with the little girl's for a few moments, "I guess these children could go for a few Lien, brother is into such depravity like that after all."

Aibori casually snapped his fingers and a massive white glyph appeared on the floor. The earth began to shake and a massive white knight rose from the complex design. The knight took one look at the remaining faunus and lifted its blade high.

"No please have Mercy!" They screamed, but their plea fell on deaf ears. The blade fell with a thunderous boom and the screams of went silent.

…

Pascal woke up in a cold sweat, "It's just a dream, it's just a dream" she said to herself over and over again.

Wiping away her tears she looked around her broom closet sized room at the White Fang's Mystral base. Her twin pistols lay on top of her decrepit desk alongside her only other possessions; a nail file for sharpening her talons and a silver badge of the Sky tribe's Knights of Ether, the warrior order dedicated to protecting the tribe's matriarch. Blake had said it was the only thing they could salvage from the burnt remains of their village.

Pascal took it in her hands, they were shaking so much from her vivid dream that she nearly dropped it. She extended her Hawkish talons from her otherwise human nails and slowly traced the rough symbol of a proud bird of prey. The paint had completely vanished and the once fine metal was now extensively tarnished.

She remembered when the cat gave it to her. It was when she first joined the White Fang all those years ago. She was scared shitless after the Fang saved her during a raid on a major Schnne mining op. The little girl half expected the terrorist group to make her their slave, that her leash was simply going to be held by another driver, but one look at Blake's sympathetic face showed her that wouldn't be the case.

She let out a sigh, Blake was her enemy now, she abandoned the White Fang, her family. She was now on the side of their enemy, the humans, the Schnnes. An image of Aibori, the head of the Schnne household, flashed before her eyes once again, nearly causing Pascal to puke into the dilapidated trash can at her bed side.

"They will all pay! Aibori, his children, Blake, every last fucking human and their brainwashed allies will know what fear means, and I will be the one to teach it to them!"

She focused on her hand to stop it from shaking, she hadn't mastered her tribe's semblance in time to accompany Adam on his raid of the Schnne base in Atlas. It was no ordinary semblance, it was the White Fang's ace in the hole, one that Aibori hand feared so much that he had her entire tribe massacred in hopes of erasing it from exsistence. She could feel it now, she was ready to use it to its full potential. Once the Sentinels in the north were dealt with, she would be ready to face that monster, ready to watch him beg for mercy as she slaughtered HIS family.

Having finally gotten a grip on herself, the young commander stood up to stretch and left her tiny hovel of a room. The fresh mountain air revitalized the bird Faunus in seconds and she half felt like jumping out a window and going flying; that is if she could, only a select few of her tribe had had wings, and only a matriarch, a leader of their tribe, had ones strong enough to allow her to fly.

"Good morning commander Crestwood" said a soldier as she passed by.

"Good Morning captain, tell me what are the other commanders up to?" Pascal responded.

"Commander Taurus is hard at work organizing the troops to march north, we should be ready to leave tomorrow. Commanders Cordelia and Arsenic are off fine tuning our arsenal."

Pascal nodded, "Good, at ease soldier, you are dismissed."

The two parted ways and Pascal continued her morning stroll through the battlements, "I guess I'll have to go help Adam, my favorite way to start the day" she thought annoyedly.

As she rounded a corner heading towards Adam's station she found a peculiar sight. One of their most promising recruits was hanging upside down from the felling with the tail of a jaguar. He looked as if he were attempting to meditate but shifted every few seconds from discomfort.

Pascal smirked, "What are you up to private?"

The recruit dropped to the floor in surprise and hit his head hard, "Gahh, FUCKING HELL! Erm, sorry about that commander, I was just calming my nerves."

Pascal reached out her hand and lifted him to his feet. He was a well built man, roughly her age and a former huntsman in training. They had picked him, and the rest of his Faunus team up a few weeks ago after they were expelled from Haven for possible connections to the Fang. "And that was precisely what drove them to us, talk about irony" she thought.

"What seems to be on your mind private Kuro? Is team KMSN having trouble settling in?" She asked, speaking in an uncomfortably formal tone for which she was always told to use when conversing with someone of lower rank.

Kuros scratched his head sorrowfully, "No, no, no, it's not that, we're all really grateful for you guys taking us in, and after what's happening with the Sentinels and their new general we are more ready than ever to fight for the Fang. It's just-"

He sighed and shook his head before turning to look out the window towards the nearby mountain range, "-it's just a friend of mine back at school, his name is Sun, Sun Wukong. I'm worried about what's happening to him. He was always against the White Fang, but he is also pretty pissed about how racist people have gotten against us in the past few months. I just-I just don't know which side he is going to chose, you know?"

Kuro sighed again, "Knowing him he won't sit this war out, he is going to be on the front lines, but if it's on the enemies' team, I don't know if I'd be able to fight him, he's like a brother to me!"

Pascal took a moment to consider her response then put her hand on the recruit's shoulder, "Sometimes in war you have to make tough choices. A friend of mine that I've know for a long time, that freed me from slave hood, betrayed us and is working for the enemy, helping the Schnnes."

She grimaced, "When you see this Sun person on the battlefield across from you remember why he is there, he is there because he is a traitor to his kind, because he values his standing with our human rulers rather than the freedom and vengeance our people so rightly deserve!"

Kuro nodded slightly, "But still, after all those years we spent together, I don't think I could do it, even if he doesn't feel the same."

Pascal shook her head and looked him in the eyes, "I want to show you something" She said as she lifted the swath of hair covering the right side of her face.

Kuro gasped, "Y-your eye-"

Pascal let her hair fall back to place, "How did you feel when those humans at Haven threw you to the wind, after all you've done to protect this world?"

Kuro grit his teeth and clenched his fists, "I'd never hated anyone more in my life."

Pascal nodded, "Good, remember that feeling, that hate. Whenever you feel yourself wavering, whenever you question whether or not you're making the right choice, remember those people, the ones that ruined your life, the ones that forced your hand to violence. Remember every inch of their cruel faces, and when you face your opponents on the battlefield picture them, picture what it will feel like to send your blade through their arrogant necks. You got that private?"

Kuro nodded solemnly, "I understand commander."

The two parted ways and she was left to her own devices. "Remember your hate Pascal, remember it and never let it leave you" she whispered to herself as she gazed out at the wide open sky above, the sky that would never know the wings of her clan ever again.

"Because if you do, you'll have nothing left."

….

Weiss sighed as she looked out the open window of her Team's room at the rising moon, the cool breeze reminding her of the year round icy chill of Atlas. It was the end of their second day at the Arc's residence and she was beginning to dread the idea of leaving it tomorrow. The warmth and love that radiated off of Jaune's siblings' playful banter had made her feel right at home, or rather right at what she wished was her home.

She racked her brain trying to think of a single moment her whole family had shared that even held a candle to the tenderness of a dinner between the Arcs. All she could remember was her reserved sister that wanted to be a family but never could make the time, her abusive and cruel mother whose day was ruined at the mere sight of her youngest daughter, and lastly her all business father that couldn't be bothered with anything family related.

She dug deeper and deeper into her brain, to her earliest and haziest memories she couldn't find much. All she found was arguments; argument after argument between her parents, a Winter that avoided her at all costs, a mother that hated her. But amongst the rubble she found one curious diamond, a single memory that she had mulled over in her mind a thousand times before. The image was completely incomprehensible, in fact it was more of a feeling than a memory. It was of someone holding her infant body gently and lovingly in her arms while singing her softly to sleep with lyrics that had been lost to the sands of time. This person was her mom, she didn't know how she knew but it had to be. "What happened to her? Why did she become so cruel?" She asked herself once more, but once again it was a question left with only silence as its answer.

"Weiss are you ok?" Asked a voice behind her.

The heiress looked behind her to see her partner Ruby walking into the room. White flour all over her face. Weiss giggled, "I'm guessing Mrs. arc kicked you out of the kitchen?"

Ruby looked downwards at her toes in embarrassment, "Yes."

The two laughed in unison before Ruby walked over and sat by the window sill with her friend, "You didn't answer my question, how are you?"

Weiss shrugged, "Ok I guess, why do you ask."

Ruby shrugged back, "I dunno, with all the crazy things that have happened we just haven't really gotten the chance to talk, just BFF to BFF."

Weiss smiled, "I don't recall ever agree to being you BFF."

Ruby smiled back, "I don't recall being BFFs was something you needed to agree to."

The two laughed again, easily falling back into their old repertoire from their school days that felt so long ago.

The two chatted for awhile, telling each other what they had done that day, arguing over who was more scared of the movie last night, random stories about their antics at Beacon as if they had never left. This continued on until it drifted into simple, and slightly awkward, small talk with a continually more distracted Ruby who found herself looking depressed as she gazed out at the now visible stars of the night sky.

Weiss noticed this and tried to think of something to say that would break her out of the funk she had been in since the incident at sea, "I think you made the right choice when dealing with those White Fang troops."

Ruby snapped out of her daze, "You mean it?"

Weiss nodded, "I do, too many lives have already been lost in this stupid war, more don't have to be."

Ruby sighed with relief, "I'm glad at least one person agrees. Jaune and Yang say they do but I have a sneaking suspicion that they are saying that just so they don't have to get into a fight with me. I can't blame them, I'm done fighting my friends for one lifetime."

"Ditto" replied Weiss.

Ruby gave her a curious look, "But why do you agree with me? They are White Fang after all, of all of us you have the most reason to hate them."

Weiss sighed, "That's true, they have terrorised me and my family for as long as I can remember, it's their fault my family is such a wreck, I hated them, I hated al faunus. But-"

She shook her head, "-Then I went to Beacon, I became friends with Sun, Velvet, Blake. I saw that they weren't the monsters my hate wanted me to see them as, they were people, just with a little quirk."

She sighed again, "And because of that quirk, that tiny insignificant difference, that all of this suffering is happening, that both sides are so full of hatred. When I was at the battle of Beacon, and at the White Fang attack at my home, when I was forced to kill so many faunus misguided by their own hatred in me, I realized something."

She looked up at Ruby, passion burning in her bright blue eyes, "I'm done hating, I'm done holding grudges. As a Schnne, as someone who is at the center of this war, as a person who doesn't want to see anymore blood, it is my duty to bring peace. I'm going to bring this war between humans and faunus to a close for good, and forge a future where all of us can just stop hating and move on."

Weiss' words sunk deep into Ruby's core, "Well just remember that I've got your back, BFF."

The heiress smiled brightly in the pale moonlight, "Thank you, BFF."

Suddenly, Ruby heard a whizzing noise and the sound of a needle sinking into skin. All Weiss was able to do was let out a small gasp before her eyes shut and she fell to the floor, sleep dart in her neck.

Before Ruby could react she felt one sink into her own skin. She leapt to her feet and reached for her scythe, her adrenaline keeping the drug at bay but only enough for a few second. Immediately it began overpowering her and she felt the world around her start to fade away.

She toppled to the ground, fighting to keep her eyes open. Two shadowy figure leapt through the window and onto the floor next to her, "Who-who are you?" Ruby tried to say, but the sedative made sure it came out as nothing but an incoherent slur.

They ignored her and one slung Weiss' limp body over his shoulder, her hair drooping down in front of her unconscious face.

The door to their room opened quietly and two other assailants crept in, one carrying an unconscious Yang over their own shoulder and the other with Blake.

"No" Ruby whispered. She tried with all her might to grab her weapon, to fight back, to save her and her friends from whatever fate laid in store for them, but she couldn't like always she couldn't save anyone.

One of the kidnappers noticed Ruby was still barely awake and knelt down, a smile on his partially concealed face, "Ssshhhh now, just get some rest little girl."

He took out another dart and poked it into her skin, rush of comfort and drowsiness rushed over Ruby and she lost all ability to think.

"You're going to need it."


	26. Chapter 22: First Blood

**A/N: Looks like I got this out faster than I thought I would, well I guess that makes this you guys' late Christmas Present! (Please excuse the potentially botched grammar of that last statement.**

"Boy am I glad that looks can't kill" muttered Neptune bitterly as the Sentinel forces continued their forward march.

All of the preparations and recruits had been finalized the previous night and the gloomy army of the new world power had now begun their dreaded march through north east Anima to the alleged base of the White Fang at the heart of the faunus inhabited mountain range.

The blue haired boy looked to his right to see his best friend in the worst mood he had seen from him since the fall of Beacon. His eyes nervously, and angrily, glancing back and forth between each and every civilian that watched them.

The village of Pamplona was relatively small with less than a hundred inhabitants, most faunus. The once peaceful and jovial place was filled with a malicious atmosphere as the piercing eyes of every last villager bored into the backs of every soldier that passed.

Many of the children cowered in the lightless buildings that lined the open street, glowing orange eyes looking both fearful and curious. The men of the village looked, to be frank, royally pissed, many of whom would probably have already pounced on the army if it weren't for the deterrent of their wives.

"Something tells me we aren't wanted here" said Neptune in a vain attempt to lighten the monolithic sense of hostility in the air. Sun shot him an annoyed glance that shut him up.

A few feet infront of them, Yatsuhashi shook his head bitterly, "And this is only the first town of many that we'll be traveling through, I can't imagine all of them will hold back their claws" he said, his fist tightening till his knuckles turned white. The big man was normally calm and collected, but the release and promotion of his disgraced and brutal father was not doing his stress levels any favors.

"Hey man, don't freak out, you're not like ol' muscle pops, you're your own man" said Fox, something resembling sympathy in his voice which was a shocking first for the whole team.

Yatsu sighed, relieving the tension from his shoulder, "Thanks."

"Yeah, we can't act all gloomy this early, we have to be strong!" Said Velvet from beside them, Coco lagging slightly behind her, shambling like a zombie from caffeine withdrawal.

Velvet shot her partner a worried glance, Coco noticed this and managed a pathetic smile that did nothing but exaggerate the bags under her eyes. The sleepless leader looked beyond her friend and noticed something unusual in the crowd, "What's that all about?" she asked.

The group turned their heads collectively to the right, lying against the wall of a building sat in a maze of bandages, three young men who looked conscious and half dead. Several woman and what looked like a priest rushed around in a frenzy as they tried to patch up the wounded with what little medical supplies they had lying around. One injured man who was awake sat motionless, the only signs of life being the rise and fall of his chest and the burning rage in his red eyes as they shot daggers at the passing troops.

Neon walked up from her team behind SSSN and CFVY and gave them their explanation. Her normally free and flowing pink hair was now cut short in a more militaristic and conforming style, the spunk from her endearing high pitched voice had been replaced with an uncharacteristically monotone one, "After ABRN refused the general's orders to 'appropriate' the village's stock of weapons he sent team CPER to do it, those were the ones who got in their way."

Sun clenched his knuckles and Coco scowled, "Did they seriously almost kill them? They just wanted to be able to protect themselves from the grimm" said Neptune.

Slender interjected from behind them in a meek voice, "This is Regulus and Ebony we are talking about, they are the highest ranking of any first year Atlas students since team JSPE was enrolled over twenty years ago."

Kombu nodded grimly, "And for good reason too, they have been trained since they were children to become huntsmen, they are like living weapons, they get the job done, clean and efficient, no matter who suffers from their actions."

Flynt spoke up as well, "Ciel might have been a colossal bitch but atleast she still had a moral compass."

Neon finished of her group's run down of the ruthless duo, "Penny may have been a robot, but those two are the real machines, I'd stay away from them at all costs if I were you."

Fox nodded, "Noted, P.S. love what you did with your hair Neon, really shows that there might be a sensible person under all that psychedelic rave!" He said, his signature sarcasm returning once more as if it had never left.

Neon scowled, "Aren't you blind?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

The cat stuck out her tongue in a childish fashion before returning to her team's pace, muttering something about throwing someone into a Nevermore nest.

Fox chuckled, satisfied with how his taunting had played out. Velvet shot him an annoyed glare, "Do you always need to be an ass?"

"Yes."

As they continued on in their now renewed silence Coco felt a slight tug on her sweater sleeve, looking down she saw a small faunus girl no older seven staring wide eyed at her with a dirty smile. Her tiny dog ears barely visible in the uncleaned mat of red frizzy hair sticking up from her little head.

Coco gave the girl a confused look, surprised that any of the children would approach them, much less with, a smile on their face, "Your huntsmen right?" She said excitedly.

Coco hesitated before responding, "Well, yeah, but we don't go by that name anymore, we're called the Sentinels now."

The girl chuckled, "Details, details, as my dad always said, the point is you're going to beat the bad guys right? So we can all go back to being happy?"

Coco gulped, not wanting to lie to an innocent child, but did so anyways, "Y-yeah, we'll beat em good, you don't need to worry about that."

The girl's smile brightened even more, "That's great, after the scary humans kicked us out of the big city and mommy couldn't find daddy, she said she didn't know what would happen, but now that you're here she can finally start smiling again!" She giggled before doing a little spin in place, the girl bursting with energy despite her weak looking stature.

Coco gave her a forced smile, "Yeah, I'm sure she will. Might I ask, why did you come to me and not anyone else? I'm certain there are more friendly looking people with me."

The girl shrugged, "You reminded me of this huntress girl I met a while ago, you're both really pretty and cool. She helped me and mommy when some scary people started yelling at us. She helped us and now you're going to help us too!" She said, punctuating with another giggle.

Coco nodded hesitantly, "You bet" she said weakly, clutching her aching head as it flared up once again.

"There you are sweetie" said a woman who appeared to be the girl's mother. She grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close before looking up at Coco, fear in her eyes, "I-I'm sorry she bothered you ma'am, please don't be angry she is just a kid."

Coco shook her head, "It's fine, really."

The mother nodded, giving a quick glare of contemptment at Sun and mouthed a word that Coco couldn't make out before pulling her daughter away. The girl sighed but waved happily at Coco with her homemade huntsmen doll in hand, "Goodbye nice lady, go beat up the bad guys for us!" Coco waved back with a false smile on her face, once the girl was out of view the smile turned back into a depressed frown.

Velvet put her hand on ther partner's shoulder, "Don't worry, I'm here" she said reassuringly.

Neptune looked at Sun with curiosity, "What did that Woman say to you? Could you make it out?"

Sun sighed, "Of course I did."

"So?"

"She called me a traitor to my race."

* * *

Alexiris looked down at his boots, not wanting to acknowledge the hateful stares of the townsfolk. The angry words of his father before he left for the Sentinels rang through his head, " _You are far too young for this boy! You won't last two second out there, and I don't want to see your mother cry over two dead children!"_

While he scoffed at his father's worries at the time, the young prodigy was beginning to second guess his hasty and passionate decision to join the war effort. If he didn't have the strength to look a few angry villagers in the eyes, how could he stare down blood thirsty terrorists in the days to come?

"Chin up young man, a hero shouldn't be looking so depressed on even the most grueling of marches!" Said a confident voice as the teenager felt an armoured hand slap down on his back.

Alexiris looked to his side to see his sparkling blonde commander, Pale Arc with a content smile on his face.

The redhead looked away from him, he still wasn't sure how to feel about the father of the dumbass that got his sister killed as a leader. "What makes you so chipper? I can't really find many things to smile about right now, for obvious reasons." He said sneaking a quick peek at the crowd of silent, angry faunus.

Pale sighed and shook his head, "Don't worry yourself over them, we are here to root out the evil hiding in these mountains, they may view us with contempt now, but trust me, history won't remember what happened here. However history WILL remember how we crushed evil at it's source and rid the world of the monstrous White Fang! We will be remembered as noble heroes, and people like these will welcome us with open arms!"

Alexiris wanted to tell the man he sounded naive and foolish, but he spoke with such vigor and heroic confidence that a part of him couldn't help but believe him.

Pale gestured to the people a few yards ahead of them on the march. Directly in the middle was Naislain in full armor with his ominous shot guns buckled to his sides, to his left was his third in command Carbuncle and Regulus and Ebony of team CPER. Carbuncle walked with an unorthodox and almost playful gait as his eyes happily scanned the crowd of aggravated yet slightly terrified people that surrounded him while his two attendants marched onward with a swift and militaristic swagger, their eyes focused onwards despite the extra attention the townsfolk placed on them.

Too the general's right marched the acclaimed members of his honor guard, team JAVA, scanning the ranks of the faunus that surrounded them, ready to fight the second any of them made any sudden moves.

"These brave souls, of all from different walks of life are ready to leap fearlessly into the jaws of war, no matter how much suffering may follow them. If they are willing to make such a sacrifice, I don't see why we shouldn't be ready to either, now chin up man, by this time in next year we will be the kind of heroes that these people will tell their grandkids about!"

Alexiris nodded, while the logic in his superior's pretty words was flimsy at best he couldn't help but agree. Something about his praise, the kind his father never gave him, made the impressionable young lad eat up every word the man said. "Why is it that you're telling me this?" He asked curiously.

Pale sighed, "I could sense your doubt. Strong youngsters like you shouldn't doubt yourselves, doing that will only get in the way of destiny" he looked downwards and clenched his fist, his statement clearly stirring up some bad memories.

He unsheathed his brilliant white broad sword and inspected it, the powerful and sharp metal looked as if it could cleave through solid steel beams with minimal effort. "Too many people your age waste their potential because they don't have the will, or strength, or smarts, to keep going. But you, you clearly have those in spades, and I'll be damned if I let you squander them."

Alexiris gave him a half hearted smile, this man was clearly nothing like his pathetic son, "Well thank you Mr. Arc, I look forward to fighting by your side in the future."

Pale gave him a fatherly slap on the back, "Good man, I'm looking forward to making history together."

* * *

Meanwhile in the southern cliffs of Anima, three less than well intentioned huntsmen were hot on the heels of their prey.

Cyan knelt down on the rough granite of the sea battered cliffs and inspected the dirty footprint in the vibrant green moss hidden in one of the many crevices in the hazardous terrain.

"Large female hiking boots, the depth of the print implies she was moving fast. It could be our target" he said after a quick inspection.

Azure sighed, "We came all the way out here to find a damn footprint? Why did Daffodil have to run out into the ass end of nowhere?"

He slouched as he leaned his weight onto his mic stand. They had been searching for the renegade maiden non stop for several days now and they hadn't made any tangible progress. Just one foot print here, a ripped piece of clothing on a tree branch there, some hic villager who saw her passing thru, their lack of progress was beginning to infuriate him.

Cyan rolled his eyes at his unhelpful partner, "This track is fresh, really fresh even, it hasn't been touched by the sea water at all yet. If I had to wager a guess I'd say it was made roughly an hour ago."

He grazed his hands along the side of the rock next to the print, "There are some skin particles here, she must have scrapped and twisted her ankle here."

A voice spoke up from behind them, "A sprained ankle is an awkward thing for aura to heal. She will attempt to patch herself up at the next hamlet."

The leader of their operation and headmaster of Haven Academy, Jacob Cemalt, waltzed casually out of the shady comfort of the nearby forest and inhaled the stinging salty air of the south Anima coast.

"We shall head straight there and ambush her come nightfall." He gripped the hilt of his trusty old blade, Siegfried, he was ready for a decent fight.

"Our tiering hunt will be over soon gentlemen, let's show this little rebel our A game."

Azure and Cyan gave each other enthused smiles, "Aye Aye sir" They replied.

Jacob let out a chuckle, "Please men, don't be so formal on a hunt."

He took in another inhale of of seaward air, "Jacob works quite nicely."

* * *

"You gonna burnt it Yang!" Cried a young Ruby, no older than three.

Her big sister Yang, an elderly five years old, gave her an amused smile, her precious little pigtails bobbing with her laugh. "You can't burn pasta silly! Now be a good little hero and get your sis that strainer."

Ruby gave her a confused look, "The what?"

Yang rolled her eyes, "The white holey thingy to catch pasta in!"

Ruby's oblivious face lighted up with joy as the slow cogs of understanding turned in her head, "Oh that thingy! On it sis!"

"And take off that hood, you know how daddy doesn't like you wearing it in doors."

Ruby stuck out her tongue at her bossy sister. Yang pouted in annoyance at her baby sister's antics, however she needed to be the mature one and instead of going to give her a noogie she needed to watch the pasta pot.

The spunky red head skipped her way across the kitchen floor as she made her way to the cupboards, " _Mommy and daddy have been working so hard since that bad faunus man broke out of jail. They will be so happy when they see that me and sis made them dinner!"_ She thought, not a care in the world.

She haphazardly pulled the big strainer from the clutter of kitchen ware and glanced out the window at the night sky. The pretty shattered moon hung high in dark cool air. She had been fascinated by its beauty for as long as she could remember, but something was off about it this night.

For some odd reason Ruby felt a looming sorrow coming from the massive rock. A random thought suddenly entered her head, as they often do at her age, " _It's so pretty but it looks like it's in pain. What broke it? What could destroy something so pretty and perfect?"_

The sudden morbid thought sent a chill down her spine, "Hey sis, it's pretty late, do you know when mommy and daddy are going to be home?"

Yang took a glance at the old grandfather clock in the corner of the room and flinched, "Wow is it that late already? I hope they get home before bedtime, I hate tucking you in, you always make me read those dumb fairy tales."

Ruby huffed indignantly, "They are NOT stupid. Besides if you don't read them then mommy will. Didn't you say you wanted to give her a break?"

Now it was Yang's turn to stick out her tongue, "Why can't you go one night without someone reading to you? Don't be a baby."

Ruby pouted, "I'm not a baby you big stupid face!"

Yang's eyes went all flashy like they always did when she got angry, "I'm not a stupid face you big dumby dumb dumb!"

Before Ruby could retort the sound of water fizzling off of a hot surface rang out and Yang quickly lowered the temperature of the stove and stirred the pot.

"Wow that was close, don't want to ruin dad's stove, he loves this thing."

There was a timid knock on the door, "That must be mommy and daddy!" Yelled Ruby cheerfully.

She ran to the door and opened it happily, "Welcome home Mo-"

She looked up to see her father and uncle Qrow, both standing as still as statues, neither looking her in the eyes.

The previously carefree and cheerful atmosphere was shattered and drowned in a newer, more melancholy mood.

Yang looked over at the two sullen men with curiosity, "What's with the long faces?"

Ruby looked around the darkness of the outside, "Where is mommy? We made her pasta!"

Tai tried to say something but all that came out was a sniffle and a few tears. Qrow remained completely silent, his hair covering his eyes.

Ruby noticed a large swath of white fabric with dark red stains strapped to Qrow's belt.

Qrow moved to hide it but the curious little girl grabbed it before he could, "This a part of mommy's cloak! Why is it, rip, why does it have ketchup stains? She's going to be so mad at you guys for this. Right si-"

Ruby looked at her beloved older sister and was shaken to the core, with one look at the piece of cloth her mouth was covered by her hands in a show of shock, her eyes were wide and teary, "No, no, no, NO!" She said on repeat, her voice completely horse.

Tai rushed over to her and pulled her into a tear filled hug.

"No, no, no, on, your lying, she can't be...she can't be..sob." She wailed.

Ruby titled her head in worried confusion, "What's going on? Why are you crying, it's just a stain, it will come out, we can fix it. Mommy's great at sowing."

The mention of their mother only seemed to worsen Yang's crying. Before Ruby could say anything else Qrow pulled her into a deep, smothering, hug. Tears ran down his eyes and into Ruby's hair, "I'm sorry, I was right there, I should have….I'm so sorry" he said with a shaky voice that devolved into more sobbing.

The little red head didn't know what was happening, how could she? Where was Mommy? Why were they crying? But for some reason she couldn't make a sound, she couldn't bring herself to ask the question, because deep down a part of her knew what was wrong. So instead of saying anything she sat their, being cradled by her uncle and breathing in the alcoholic smell of his clothes and gazing up at the moon through the door left ajar, once again admiring its forever tainted perfection.

* * *

With yet another less than happy dream under her belt, Ruby finally began to regain consciousness. As her vision steadied she began looking around at her surroundings. She saw her teammates all passed out and bound in rope. They were all haphazardly shoved against the wall of a small cave and Ruby could see moon light through the entrance not far away. While she couldn't make out their faces or uniforms, she could clearly see three armed men standing guard at the entrance.

"Did you get a good look at them?" whispered a voice.

Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound before realizing who the voice was coming from.

"Blake, is that you?" She whispered.

The black cat who lying up against the wall next to her opened one of her eyes, "Yes, but keep your voice down, if they notice we are awake they'll drug us again."

The red headed huntress looked down at the ropes that tied her and struggled in vain to release at least one hand, losing patience, she tried using her speed to loosen the knot but for some reason her semblance wouldn't activate, it was as if something in her own body was blocking it.

Her onyx haired companion shook her head, "That won't work, that toxic must be messing with our auras."

Ruby sighed in defeat, "Is anyone else up?"

Blake shook her head, "Nope, I've been up for a few minutes, if I had to wager a guess i'd say they will be up soon."

Ruby sighed quietly, "Which mean we have to figure out a plan before Yang wakes up and starts swearing at them."

Blake shrugged, "Basically. Did you get a good look at them when they captured you? They hit Yang and I from behind, we never saw them coming. Did you have any more luck?"

Ruby strained herself to remember the person who attacked them, but the memory was to hazy to get a clear picture, "I think they were wearing hoods, I couldn't see their faces. Wait, I think i remember one of them having a mask, but I can't remember what it looked like."

Blake's eyes widened, "Did you say masks?"

Before they could say anything else their heard a conversation from outside, forcing them into silence.

"Their friends probably know their gone by now and are out looking for them. We have to keep moving!" Said a deep voice.

" _Where have I heard that voice from?"_ Thought Ruby as she racked her still groggy brain for answers.

A more submissive voice responded to him, "The boat is malfunctioning, we might have to flee on foot."

A hopeless sounding voice rang out in response, "Are you mad? Their practically huntsmen, they'd catch us in no time without the boat!"

The aggressive voice from before snarled, "Let em' come I've been looking forward to killing them, especially that grey haired jackass, I bet he is out there right now searching for the dumb blonde."

A spark of hope lit up in Ruby, " _These guys sound like total idiots Merc, Jaune, and the others will save us in no time"_ she thought.

This time a female voice responded,"No you bumbling idiot, they have made it painfully clear how much stronger they are than us. We have to play this smart."

The woman stepped forward into the moonlight, revealing herself to Ruby and Blake.

The young huntress' heart dropped, "No" she whispered inaudibly to herself, unable to accept what she was seeing.

Standing there, armed to the teeth and with her shimmering White Fang mask hiding the top half of her scowling face was the Lieutenant that Ruby had spared.

Ruby glanced at Blake to see her reaction. Her teammate held a scowl equally as annoyed as the lieutenant.

Ruby risked a whisper to her, "Blake I-"

Blake shut down her apology with a venomous response, "Save your excuses, you knew full well this could happen" she said.

Blake sighed in a way that told Ruby that she was beyond pissed, "Just shut up and listen, and once we get out of this your through being leader" she said in a cold matter of fact tone.

The blunt response broke Ruby's heart and she returned to silence as she waited on every word of their captor's conversation.

The woman shook her head in annoyance, "I'm not going to let you meatheads go off and get yourselves killed. It's a miracle that kid was naive enough to let us go, but lightning won't strike twice for us."

The aggressive voice, which Blake now assumed was the male lieutenant grunted at her, "So what, you got a better plan."

The woman nodded, "Of course I do, the commander didn't put me in charge of this mission for nothing. We need a boat to get away right? And we don't want them following us right? So let's kill two birds with one stone and steal theirs."

The other lieutenant paused to consider the plan but shook his head, "We'd be spotted, no way they'd let us take it."

The woman grinned maliciously, "They won't see us, They will be to busy saving all the human villagers from the fire _you're_ going to light."

"NO!" Ruby screamed before she could stop herself.

The White Fang members all turned to look at her. The female lieutenant smiled, "Aw, looks like we waked the baby.

Blake glared daggers at her leader, showing more anger for one of her friends then she had since her early arguments with Weiss.

The woman pulled out a dart that was coated with the same toxin as before and motioned for the male lieutenant to leave, "Take some of the men and go start the fire. I want half the village to be a smoldering ruin and the boat ready in ten minutes."

The man nodded and turned to his men, "You heard her, roll out."

With him gone, the woman stepped forward into the cave, Blake, desperately trying to stall for time, kept the woman talking, "Why are you still after us? If Adam and my brother want me so bad then why didn't they come themselves?"

She sneered at her, "So you're awake too traitor? Adam and Bismuth are off protecting OUR people from the humans, something you decided wasn't important."

Blake's scowled worsened, "Oh don't get all holier than thou on me. Your all bloodthirsty terrorists, savages!"

The lieutenant spat at Bake before kneeling down in-front of them. Blake caught a glimpse of her Gambol Shroud attached to her belt, " _If only I could reach it."_ She thought.

The lieutenant grabbed Blake by the jaw and pulled her face up close to hers, "Don't you dare talk to me about being bloodthirsty, I was there on that fateful day, the day that monster Naslian opened fire on us. The day the White Fang was driven to war."

She removed her mask, revealing a massive ugly scar across her forehead, as well as two hateful green eyes. "The general himself gave me this scar, he also shot my husband's head clean off in front of me while he begged for mercy. If I hadn't ran he would have killed me and my daughter too. So tell me, who is the real savage here, me? Or the world that sat back and fucking watched?"

Ruby squirmed, "It doesn't have to be like this! We let you leave, why couldn't you have just let us be and go home!? Why do you hate us so much!?"

The lieutenant smiled wickedly, well for starters this bitch right here-"

She grabbed Blake by the cat ears and pulled, causing the faunus to scream in pain.

Ruby's jaw tightened at the sight, "Please stop!" She begged.

The woman ignored her, "She is the epitome of everything I hate. A spineless weakling to afraid to make the sacrifices necessary to rid the world of those monstrous humans."

She let go the kicked Blake in the gut, sending her tumbling to the ground. At first Ruby thought the cat had been knocked unconscious but felt a bit of levity when she saw her move slightly. She was holding her Gambol Shroud in her hands that she must have grabbed off of the lieutenant while she was torturing her.

She shot Ruby a glare and mouthed the words "Stall her."

Ruby gulped and turned to face the clearly unstable woman, "But why? We can work this out, why are you trying to answer violence with more violence? Things will never end that way!"

She scoffed, "Wow, you really are delusional aren't ya kid? How the hell did you end up a leader? But in all seriousness, this will all end, it will end when the White Fang wins."

Her smile widened, "It will be end when Atlas, Mystral, and Vacuo come crashing down, it will end when humanity is under OUR boot, when THEY are the ones thrown to the wind and grimm. When THEY are the ones who have to fear for their lives every day!"

Ruby risked a glance at Blake, the girl was furiously sawing away at her bindings. She was halfway there.

The woman scowled, "Weaklings like your traitor friend over there are so brainwashed by you scum that they would be satisfied with their token _equality_ and _peace_." She said in a patronizing tone and punctuating with a disgusted spit.

"But how will a few rights and protection make us equals? How will it erase all the suffering we've had at YOUR species' hands?! If thousands of us have been slaughtered by your kind and you haven't felt the same pain, how could you ever have the gall to call us equal?"

She scowled again, to absorbed in her monologue to notice Blake was nearing freedom.

Ruby shook her head, "We can't keep hating each other, why can't you understand this! It's to painful to live with constant hate, why can't we all just forgive each other!" She yelled, not caring how childish she sounded.

The woman laughed, "And people said I have no grip on reality! But little red I have no plans to keep hating humanity for all time, I just want to collect the debt they owe me, that they owe every single one of my kind. I'll stop hating them and accept their equality when they have bleed as much as we have, and trust me, I'll be counting every last gallon."

She twirled the sleep dart in her hands, "Now go to sleep little girl, you've got a long, painful ride ahead of you."

Suddenly they heard the sound of gunshots and yelling coming from outside the cave. The voice of one of the White Fang grunts shouted out for help, "They're here! The huntsmen are- gahh!"

His voice was cut off by the sickening crack of bone and the familiar sound of Mercury's boots firing, "Yang, Ruby, we're coming, gah!" He said as the sound of another soldier tackling to the ground was heard.

The lieutenant snarled in anger, "Of all the fu-" She was unable to finish her cuss before a now freed Blake tackled her to the ground and stab her in the back.

Their captor's aura however repelled the attack and she grabbed her teammate and slammed her into the ground once again.

Ruby flinched while Blake had her weapon, her aura was still blocked by the toxin, if Merc couldn't get there soon this was going to be a one sided curb-stomping.

Blake rolled away to dodge a punch from the woman and sliced at her hamstrings, breaking her armor but not her aura. Rolling away from another strike, the cat lassoed her weapon's ribbon around the woman's legs and attempted to topple her. It worked but it resulted in a short lived and hollow victory.

The lieutenant extended her cat like claws and sliced the ribbon to pieces and pounced on Blake. Slashing at her unprotected face multiple times, drawing blood in many places.

Ruby felt fear grip every fiber of her being, " _No, I can't let this happen, I can't let Blake die!"_ She thought.

She struggled and squirmed in a desperate attempt at escape from her bindings, " _Come on, come on work you fucking worthless semblance!"_ She screamed on the inside as she focused all her strength and emotions into her aura. A few small flashes of light sparked up here and there across her skin but none were manifesting into her full aura.

All she could do was continue struggling as she watched Blake ferociously fight a losing battle. With every kick, punch, and scratch she suffered she continued fighting for survival with an unwavering will. With every drop of her blood that spilt from her body onto the cold stone floor only seemed to add to her determination.

"You're...never...going...to win...your...never...going..to..hurt..my..friends!" She yelled, charging in for a violent stab at the woman's kidney.

She flinched and doubled over in pain as some of the damage seemed to seep through her aura.

"Not Weiss….not Yang...not Ruby...you aren't..going to lay..a goddamn finger on them!" She wailed.

Ruby was left in awe at her teammate, even after every time she failed as a leader, Blake still looked at her as a friend, as family.

Blake kicked the woman in the side of the head, sending her slamming into the hard rock wall. For a split second she appeared to have been knocked out but any hope of that outcome was dashed as she leap forward like a wild animal and elbowed Blake in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her Gambol Shroud flying out of her hand.

The lieutenant held her down by the neck with one hand and raised the other up high, her claws covered in blood and ready to kill. She laughed crazily, "Fine then, I'll just drag YOU to hell with me then!"

Everything around Ruby seemed to suddenly move in painful slow motion. The crazed look of anger on their captor's face, the slow descent of her claw as it fell towards Blake's eyes, the pained look of anguish on her friend's face as awaited her death.

At that moment something in Ruby snapped, she wasn't thinking anymore, all that was left was instinct, an instinct in her very core that screamed one thing on repeat, " _Protect her."_ Her vision was clouded with a mix of hot angry tears and images of her memory.

Every time Blake helped Ruby improve back at Beacon, every time their team shared a tender moment together, their reunion at Haven, their cathartic heart to hearts on the boat, all laced into a massive collage with the same two words.

" _Protect her."_

Ruby sat up, "No more."

" _Protect her."_

"Not one more."

" _Protect her."_

"Not one more mistake."

" _Protect her."_

With a rush of emotions her aura flowed forth and her speed unbound her from her bindings. She grabbed Blake's Gambol Shroud and speed forward at breakneck speed.

"GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH!"

Confused the lieutenant looked to the side only to be tackled by the red headed warrior. Fury in her eyes and heart, Ruby slammed the blade down on her neck with all her strength. The woman screamed in pain as her aura began to buckle.

"NEVER TOUCH MY TEAMMATES AGAIN YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" She screamed between tears that blinded her.

She brought the aura charged blade down over and over with no end in sight. She didn't stop, her emotions and adrenaline wouldn't let her, not even after she heard the woman's aura break, not after she stopped moving, not after she felt warm ooze pour over her arm and hands.

It was eventually Blake who stopped her blind rage. The faunus grabbed Ruby around the waist and pulled the bloodied Blade from her hands, "Ruby stop it's over!" She said, shock and fear in her voice after what she had just witnessed.

She wrapped her arms around her shaking leader and pulled her close to her. Ruby began crying profusely, her anger turning into sorrow. THey sat there in silence for almost a whole minute before they heard the fighting outside cease and Mercury stumbled into the cave. "What happened, are you guys-"

The color from drained from his face and he covered his mouth as if he were about to throw up, "Oh god" he said quietly.

Ruby tried to say something in her shaky cracking voice "I-I-She was going to kill you Blake, I-couldn't, I think I blacked out, w-what just happened?"

Blake held her tighter, "Just calm down Ruby, it's ok. Just don't look, just focus no me and don't look."

Ignoring her Ruby slowly turned to see what had disturbed Mercury so much. Lying in a puddle of their own blood, was the motionless corpse of the White Fang Lieutenant. Her neck and upper chest were reduced to a mangled and torn lump of bloodied flesh by countless stab wounds, her face was drenched in her own blood, eyes wide open in shock and horror.

Ruby slowly and shakily looked downwards as she followed the trail of blood from the corpse to her red stained hands.

"No" she whispered, the reality of what she had done sinking in.

Blake shook her head, "Ruby please calm down."

"No, no, no, I-I oh god I-"

"Ruby look at me, please calm down and look at me."

It was all too much, " _Why, Why did this happen, this was suppose to work out, why, why why why did she make me kill her!"_

Unable to process what was happening, she slipped into unconsciousness, passing out in a pool of her victim's blood.

 **A/N: Misery and Pain for allllllll! Please leave a review on any thoughts you might have, I'm starving for feedback! Happy New Years everyone!**


	27. Chapter 23: Sleepless Nights

**Well this is a long one. Hope you all enjoy this crazy ride, I know I enjoyed writing it!**

Tai must have tossed and turned in his bed about a million times that night but couldn't fall asleep. As hard as it was, he had finally managed to make a decent sleep schedule in the claustrophobic and dismal prison cell. However tonight, tonight was different, something just felt...wrong, like a dark presence was weighing down heavily on his chest. Every time he closed his eyes he just felt suffocated, like something was trying to swallow him whole. This presence, this shadow, was one he knew all too well, the shadow of worry.

After having finally given up he turned on his side towards his cell mate's bed, "Psst, Qrow, are you up? Groan in annoyance once for yes."

His long time friend did just that and his eyes fluttered open, "Of course I'm up, or did you think someone like me could get a decent night's sleep in this hell hole?"

Tai sighed, "I still don't know why Raven would be so cruel, she's a Reaper too, she of all people should know how much pain this place could bring to someone with your…abilities."

Qrow sighed in response, "I'm the only other Reaper in the world right now and Ozpin never told anyone how to create the potion to perform the corruption ritual on others. Someone who has the power to literally turn other's misery into raw aura is a valuable asset, so she is probably keeping me around for that psycho Azure's experiments down the line," he said with a disheartened scoff.

They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes before Qrow spoke again, "You're worried about the girls, that's why you can't sleep, right?"

His cellmate nodded silently. Qrow cracked a forced smile, "Well don't worry bud, Ruby has her mother's blood running in her veins and Yang has your's pumping through her heart, they'll be fine."

Tai put his head defeatedly in his hands, "When Raven gets a hold of her, her silver tongue, her fierce passion, the same that had me eating out of her hands in training; they trick Yang too. They may have already. And Ruby-"

He paused, overcome with emotion, "She has her mother's heart and eyes, a combination that might lead her to the same fate. I can't….I can't let them make the same mistakes as us, I-I couldn't live with myself!"

Silence returned for ten long agonizing minutes until he finally reopened the question they had been asking themselves every day those long weeks since the Huntsmen Summit.

"What happened to her, how could Raven do this to us, to her daughter?" He asked absently, knowing Qrow was as far away from an answer as he was.

Qrow shook his head, resisting the instinctual urge to take a swing out of his now empty flask. "We may never know, she always did remain more closed off than normal after Summer-"

He choked up for a moment before continuing, "-Stopped reporting in."

Tai scowled, "But if she cared for Summer, genuinely cared, why would she want to set Salem free!? She sacrificed everything, her future, left it all behind to save us all and now she wants to-"

"You don't need to give me the pre-episode recap Tai! Trust me, I'm VERY familiar with that PARTICULAR plot line!" He said, his voice dripping with biting venom.

Tai looked down at his feet, both in shame and in mournful anger, "Yeah, I am too, thanks to that I had to raise both the girls…alone."

The silence returned, the excess amounts of sadness emanating from Tai was making Qrow more than a little uncomfortable.

"Why weren't you there for them, why weren't you there to help me?" the blonde brawler asked, his voice sounding like the whimpers of a sad puppy.

Qrow finally gave into his old habits and grabbed his flask only to be once again disappointed by the absence of booze, "How many times do I have to tell you, Reapers and constant misery isn't healthy for anyone near-"

"Cut the bullshit Qrow!" He said in anger.

"You and Raven always used excuses, Raven had too much work to even look at Yang, even before Summer, and you didn't become a Reaper till after she died. You know for someone who hates their sibling you are an awful lot alike. Both of you think you know everything, both of you think everyone around you is like putty in your hands, both of you think that you're making some big sacrifice in avoiding the people you love but that's all a load of insecure bull crap bluster and bravado!"

His hand clenched into fists as his tired anger began to bubble over, "You just didn't have the stones it took to hold together a family that had lost so much! You were to much of a coward to face them. Yang, and Ruby, your family, your nieces, your-"

"SHUT UP!" Yelled Qrow, his emotions going so haywire that for a brief moment, his curse broke free and his eyes went black as midnight and a cloak of ominous shadows formed loosely around him.

Tai leapt back in surprise and landed flat on his back, "Shock and a little fear in his expression. The temperature in the previously humid room dropped far below zero to the point where their every breath was a visible cloud of grey.

A few horrifying seconds later, Qrow regained his composure and let his power subside as he let out a heavy sigh, "Like I said Tai, don't tell me things I already know."

He stretched out his hand and pulled a still surprised Tai to his feet, "Let's just try and get some sleep, I have a feeling we're going to really need it."

WIth all the dark power dissipating around him he slunk back under his covers and tried his best to look like he was sleeping.

Not wanting to provoke the sleeping Goliath, Tai decided to cut his losses and return to his vain attempts at sleep, now with an even worse atmosphere than before.

Qrow buried his face in his pillow, his thoughts and regrets all too fresh in his mind now. Once again he let out a muffled sigh, " _Summer, where did we go so wrong?"_ He thought miserably.

* * *

Jaune fell down in his father's old armchair more exhausted than he had been since the fall of Beacon, and he had fought at least four psychopaths in that time span.

The village sheriff and doctor had just left after Blake had told him her account of what happened in the cave. Luckily they had run into the male White Fang Lieutenant on his way to torch the village when they were out looking for the missing team RWBY a few hours ago. All remaining members of the White Fang unit were currently imprisoned at the county jail after they had beaten them.

Ruby was still unconscious in the guest room with her whole team crowded inside with her, worrying themselves into a fit as the waited for her to wake up. Mercury stood just outside in the hall with his arms crossed as if he was their body guard.

After having to be the ones to defeat the male lieutenant, Ren had already shuffled his way into his room and passed out, Nora and Neo were still out in town to make sure no one had stirred into a panic. Most of Jaune's sisters had been ordered to bed by his mother, Lemon and Goldenrod being the only two still up and about.

Letting out an exhausted sigh, the blonde warrior in training rubbed his tired eyes, " _I knew we'd just bring trouble here, we need to leave first thing tomorrow. I just hope Ruby will be in any shape to go on, dammit!"_ He thought in a mixture of frustration, anxiety, and exhaustion.

"No you aren't going and that's final!" Yelled Jaune's mother in a booming voice uncharacteristic of her.

Goldenrod stormed down the stairs with an aggravated gait and a backpack slung over her shoulder. Mercury gave her a wide berth as she angrily grabbed her scroll from the coffee table next to Jaune.

Her older brother was surprised by her unusually determined disposition, "What's going on, where are you going?"

Goldenrod cracked a smile, "I'm going with you guys."

Before Jaune could react, their mother came storming down the stairs, "Oh no you don't young lady! I have half a mind to forbid Jaune from leaving, much less you!"

Jaune attempted to interject but Goldenrod wouldn't let him, "I know I'm no fighter like dad but I can look out for myself mom." She turned pleadingly to her brother, "I'm a trained medic, and after tonight there is no doubt in my mind you'll need me. So please tell mom to let me come. If she'll listen to anyone it's you!"

Once again before Jaune could answer another voice entered the fray, "You don't need her approval sis, it's about time you started your rebellious stage anyways," said Lemon playfully as he descended the staircase, with a backpack of her own.

Prinslna's eyes lit up with fury, "No, no way in hell am I letting TWO daughters of mine go head first into danger!"

Lemon rolled her eyes, "Unlike lil' sis I know my way around a fight, lil' bro's gang could use some extra muscle with thugs like the White Fang gunning for them, right bro?"

As if afraid of her son's answer, Prinslna cut him off before he could utter a single word, "No, it's bad enough that the two most important men in my life are bone headed enough to get into this much trouble, if I have any say I will never let you two take one step into whatever this fiasco is."

"And when did you think you had a say in what we do with our lives?" Said Goldenrod, passion sparking beneath her nerdy glasses.

Lemon nodded, "Yeah Jaune needs us, right bro?"

The blonde looked between the members of his heated family with awkward apprehension, "Well I-I'm not sure if-"

Lemon blurted out before he could finish, "Just tell her that we can go."

"But, what-"

Goldenrod shook her head vigorously, "We can help! Just let us come!"

"I-I-I-"

All three of them waiting for his answer. For a moment Jaune hesitated, on one had the friendly faces and their skills could help them a great deal, but on the other hand he would subject them, his beloved sisters, to all the pain and suffering that came with their journey. He would have to see their perky smiles turn into blank stares of stress and anxiety, he'd have no way of stopping what happened to Ruby happen from happening to them. One way or another they would end up what all of them on that damned mission were apparently destined to be, murderers.

Jaune let out a deep sigh before standing up, it was time to be the one thing his father always wanted him to be, a man that stood his ground, "You aren't going with me."

"What?!" Yelled his two sisters in shocked unison.

"You heard me, I'm not taking you two with me, we already have a big enough group as it is, our ship would be too crowded."

Goldenrod shook her head yet again, "But-but-but-"

"No buts!" He said commandingly, silencing them. They both stared at their feet with bitter disappointment.

"Lemon, what was the name of your new girlfriend?"

His older sister blushed, "Oh, Her name was Jasmine, Jasmine Marigold. She's a noble from Mystral who was visiting for the weekend. We met today in the square and exchanged Scroll numbers." Her blush reddened, "She's gorgeous."

Jaune nodded, "If you come with me you'll be on the move for a long time. You probably

won't be able to contact her for quite awhile, are you willing to do that."

Lemon gulped, "Well, I guess so, She'll understand, I-I think."

Jaune turned to his little sister next, "And Goldenrod, you realize that you'll be dropping out of school for this, and even though you'll have all of us with you there is no guarantee we can protect you the whole way to Vacuo. Are you sure you're ok with that?"

Goldenrod hesitated before replying with a shaky yes.

"If for some reason I let you two come with me, not only would I be putting you guys in danger, I'll also be depriving the village of a good warrior and medic!"

He gestured to his mother, "And what about mom? You really want to leave her hanging out to dry? You want her to have to provide for and raise four little girls all on her own?"

Lemon and Goldenrod tried to retort but Jaune wouldn't let them, it was his turn to interrupt, "And yes I know that's hypocritical of me, but god dammit this mission is my responsibility, not yours! So please, just stay here and keep our family safe!"

The room went silent for a few moments, his mother and sisters staring at him in surprise. Lemon and Goldenrod exchanged looks and came to a silent agreement immediately.

"Ok, we'll stay."

Lemon nodded and smiled, "We're gonna protect the shit out of this village, don't you worry little bro! But you need to do your job to, go do what you need to and come back for supper in one piece. Also make sure to save the world before dad does, the look on his face will be priceless."

He smiled and nodded back, "Can do sis, can do."

After the three embraced each other in a group hug his two sisters said their goodnights and retired to their rooms, his mother pulled him into her own separate hug.

"Thank you. I don't know what you're doing, and frankly, I'm just going to assume that knowing it would cost me more sleep than not so I won't pry for details. I also know that nothing I say will stop you from going, you are your father's son after all. Just please, please, please be safe."

Jaune had to keep himself from crying, "I will mom, I promise I'll see you again."

And with that Prinslna hesitantly released her son and went off to bed, "Don't stay up too late" she said before disappearing upstairs.

WIth another emotionally trying conversation behind him, Jaune collapsed once more into his father's reclining arm chair.

"For what it's worth, you handled that quite well. I'm impressed" said a voice trying to sound genuinely compassionate.

Jaune looked over to the kitchen door and saw Ciel tiredly wander through it and into the living room with a bag of chips in her hand.

"Isn't it a bit late for a snack?" Asked Jaune.

Ciel sighed, "As cliche and stereotypical as it sounds, I eat a lot when I'm stressed." As if to demonstrate her point she grabbed a small handful of chips and shoved them into her mouth before tilting the bag to Jaune, "Want some?" She asked, not caring enough about formality anymore to swallow before talking.

He smiled happily, "Don't mind if I do, after all it's not just girls that do that."

Shoving his midnight stress snack into his mouth, he watched as Ciel nonchalantly dropped herself onto the nearby couch, her beret falling off center on her head. Whether this uncharacteristically casual behavior was a result of sheer exhaustion or her finally loosening up around them was hard for Jaune to decipher.

"So, does this make us friends, or at least snack buddy?" he asked jokingly.

She rolled her eyes, "Not quite, I haven't been around you bunch of bleeding hearts enough to embrace that moniker yet."

Jaune cracked a smile "'Moniker'? Even when you're dead tired you still manage to sound classier than me."

Ciel chuckled slightly, "No offense but that's not a hard thing to do."

"None taken."

The two continued to lounge around, eating mediocre and most likely expired chips in a relaxing silence.

"Ok, what's wrong?" Ciel asked after finishing another bite.

"What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes, "You've been acting incredibly on edge lately, more than usual I mean. Are you worried about leaving your family here?"

Jaune's smile faded as he sighed, "Well, yeah but there is...something else."

Ciel raised her eyebrow as a show of interest, "And that would be?"

Jaune's eyes quickly scanned the room for anyone nearby. All his family were in bed and Merc had gone into team RWBY's room, most likely to speak with Yang about something.

"I've been meaning to tell you all about it eventually but I didn't know how." He shrugged, "I guess now's as good a time as any, back when I fainted after unlocking my semblance I had this vision. I...I saw Phyrra, the real Phyrra, she was trying to tell me something. How is that possible?"

Ciel's eyes widened in surprise, "Ok that's odd" she said, putting down her bag of chips. "Are you sure it wasn't just a random dream?"

He shook his head, "No I'm sure, somehow, someway, Phyrra's spirit or something tried to contact me."

"Do you remember if she said anything? What was she trying to tell you?"

Jaune rubbed his temples in frustration, "It's too hazy for me to remember all of it, it was some form of cryptic message, something about ' _Dust, Eternity, and our souls being intertwined.'"_

Ciel sat back, taking a few moments to contemplate this new information before having an epiphany, "Wait, did she unlock your aura?"

He gave her a curious look, "Yeah, she did, what does that mean?"

Ciel sat forward again, her chin in her hand as she continued to think, "Back in my Advanced Aura Studies class I remember hearing of an old Atlesian legend that if someone were to unlock another's aura with their own, they would leave a small amount of it behind, and in return they would take some of the unlockie's aura into their own supply. Some of the more ancient legends go on to say that warriors could use this technique to communicate with each other telepathically."

Jaune's eyes lit up, "Wait, you mean part of her soul is inside mine?"

Ciel shook her head, "I don't know, all studies of this supposed phenomenon have been inconclusive and there is no evidence of it ever actually happening or even if it would have any real effect on the people in question."

"Oh" said Jaune, disappointment lacing his voice.

Ciel slapped him on the back, "Well there is a first time for anything, we'll have to wait and see what happen. I'll help you along the way, we are….friends after all" she said with an awkward smile.

Jaune smiled back, "Thanks, I owe you one, friend."

* * *

Dirty and tired from their grueling few days of marching, Velvet crashed onto her pitiful excuse for a bed.

"I feel like I might die," she muttered.

Fox staggered into their little hovel of a tent after filing the team's report, "Something, something, sarcastic good night," he muttered before collapsing onto his own bed next to Yatsuhashi's, who was already fast asleep.

Not bothering to change out of her sweaty clothing, the rabbit curled herself into a ball with her flimsy blanket and stiff pillow, " _Honestly I thought war would be a bit more eventful, we haven't fought a single White Fang group yet,"_ she thought.

The tired faunus glanced up from her pillow towards her best friend and leader, sitting off in the corner on her own bedside. The troubled girl slumped forward in exhaustion, her weapon and beret tossed clumsily to the side. Her once perfectly styled hair was now reduced to a matted mess of faded colors and split ends, he bags under her eyes had only grown with every passing sleepless night and stressful day. She was blankly staring at her own pillow, hesitant to lie down.

"I can't do it, I can't go back to sleep" she said sadly.

Velvet, sat back up despite her body's' desire to curl up into a ball and sleep for eternity, "Sure you can, remember if you have a nightmare we're all here for you."

Coco shook her head angrily, tears now rolling down her cheeks, "It's not a matter of if, it will always happen, every night, without fail. I can't do it anymore, It's only been a week and I've already woken you all up with my nightmares a dozen times! I can't bare to see it all happen again, I-" She let out a sob and held her head in her hands, "I can't go back to that room, I won't!"

Velvet rushed over to her partner's bedside and sat down next to her, pulling her into a warm and loving hug.

Her hysterical leader sniffled again, "I'm never going to get over this, I'm never going to get their dead bodies out of my head, I-" Her voice cracked and faltered again, "-No matter how hard I fight, I'll always just be that scared little girl, huddling in a dark closet."

Velvet hugged her tighter, "You dunce."

Coco gave her a weird look through her eary eyes, "What?"

Her closest confidant gave her a comforting smile, "You're not that girl anymore, you've changed so much. When we first met you were a paranoid, bigoted, asshole, but I saw good in you." Her smile widened, "Now look at who you are, you're a strong and steadfast warrior, fighting tooth and nail to conquer your inner demons and protect everyone. You're also the best friend I could ever ask for, and I'm a faunus, one of the very people you hated a year and a half ago!"

She wiped the tears from Coco's sad eyes, "You're not that bigot, and you're not that little girl, you're Coco Fucking Adel!"

Velvet covered her mouth with her hand, "Oh goodness! Sorry about that, I just got caught up in the moment, forgive me," her face turned bright red, this was quite possibly the first time Coco ever heard her swear, and it was shocking to say the least.

Nevertheless, Coco got the message loud and clear and returned her best friend's hug a thousand fold, "Thank you, Velvet" she said, her voice still shaky.

After a short while of holding each other in their arms they separated, setting for a few minutes in an awkward silence only broken by a few infrequent tiny sobs from Coco.

"Well, we should be getting to bed….good luck, and remember we're all here for you" said Velvet as she as standing up to leave.

As she saw the faunus turn away, something inside Coco lurched with a painful ache. She felt drenched in a melancholy desire for Velvet to stay, not to do anything specific, but just to stay. She couldn't bare to see her go.

"Uh, um, Velvs-" she said meekly as she lightly grabbed her partner by the sleeve.

She turned curiously towards her, "Yeah?"

"Could you maybe, uh, sleep here...with me tonight?"

Velvet's face turned beat red, "Wha- uh, oh, well, um, uh, I don't think I, um."

Coco shook her head violently, "I-I don't mean like that, I-I just don't want to sleep alone tonight. Y'know?" She said, her face just as red with embarrassment.

She retracted her hand, "I'm sorry, this was a bad Idea. I-I made this touching moment really awkward, just forget I said anything. Well good night!"

She quickly turned herself away from Velvet and hurriedly pulled her covers over herself, hoping Velvet would just accept her apology, write her request off as the delusional ramblings of the sleep deprived, and go back to bed. But what happened, was very different.

Velvet let out a cute little chuckle, "Ok, move over then" she said.

She lifted up the covers and crawled into the insomniac's bed and snuggled up next to her. Her heart beat quickened as she felt their bodies pressing lightly up against each other. Velvet rested her head on the pillow and up against Coco's neck. She absently slung one of her arms around her waist.

"This better?" she asked.

Coco shifted to the side so their faces were only inches apart, "Y-yeah, goodnight."

The faunus girl smiled back at her, "You too." She closed her eyes, and either from pure exhaustion, or from the simple comfort of having Coco next to her, she fell asleep instantly. The stress and worry faded instantly from her face, as a beautiful and tranquil innocence replaced it.

Coco felt her heartbeat slow down again as her body began to calm down, "Goodnight, she repeated softly," more to herself than to Velvet.

She weaved her fingers through Velvet's hand and held her tight refusing to let go. As her mind stopped racing and Velvet's captivating beauty began to sink in, the ever watchful spectre of sleep began to overtake her. But for once in her life, Coco welcomed it, knowing that even if her nightmares came that night in full force, she wasn't alone. She had a protector that night, a guardian angel that's presence would be her ark. She had Velvet, the love of her life.

* * *

Ruby's dream that night managed to be the worst she ever had,. She found herself in an open field stretching out into a cliff overlooking a sprawling forest. She was surrounded by a sea of faceless people dressed in black and shrouded in shadows, all looking towards the direction of the cliff.

"Where am I?" She asked groggily.

"The last thing I remember was-" The image of the White Fang Lieutenant's mutilated corpse flashed through her mind, nearly causing her to fall over, " _Oh god what have I done!?"_ She thought.

Before she could once again spiral into despair she heard the sound of a little girl crying violently coming from ahead of the crowd.

Curious, Ruby slowly staggered forward, bumping past the horde of faceless specters till she reached the object of their interest. A thick triangular tomb stone with fanciful writing that she couldn't make out in the unclear haze of her dreamscape.

Kneeling before it was a little faunus girl no older than five adorning an ebony dress and weeping endless tears. Next to her were two faceless men with faunus features kneeling silently and near motionlessly. One slowly stroked the hair of the crying girl and the other held an even younger faunus girl in a suffocating hug while she struggled yelling "Where's mommy! Where's mommy!"

After a few seconds the crying girl lashed out at the other, "She's gone, don't you get it!" Another tidal wave of tears falling from her face as one of the faceless spectres pulled her into a comforting hug, what looked like tears falling down his nonexistent face as well.

The rest of the shadows around the grave began letting waterworks loose from their ownindistinguishable faces, a cacophony of wails and sorrow began to rang out and reverberated in Ruby's mind.

"No" Ruby said quietly to herself, tears streaming from her own eyes. The haze slowly began to clear and she could read what was on the gravestone, " _Here lies _ proud mother and White Fang devout."_

"I didn't mean to-"

The younger girl let out a shrill and wavering cry, "No I don't get it! Why are you crying? What do you mean gone? She'll come back, she will, she has to!" Tears began welling up in the tiny faunus' face, "She needs to, if not dad will be sad, you'll be sad, i'll be sad, mommies shouldn't make people sad! Mommy where are you!"

The crying of the crowd increased in volume tremendously till it was impossible for Ruby to block out. She rushed to the young girl's side and pulled her into a hug, "I'm sorry! I had to, I'm sorry!" She yelled in a shrill, quavering, voice.

Her tears fell down her cheeks and pooled into the young girl's hair, "I'm sorry, please forgive me! I can't-, I can't go on, I need your forgiveness please!"

The wails of the crowd silenced, leaving a void filled only by Ruby's self loathing sobs.

"It was you" said the little girl in an emotionless voice.

Ruby froze in place, fear gripping her soul.

"You made her gone" the girl said again.

"I'm so sor-"

The girl pushed Ruby into the dirt with unrealistic force, as Ruby pulled herself to her knees the light of the dream began to fade and a rain storm began coming down mercilessly onto the funeral, turning all the dirt into mud.

"You did this" the girl said, the rain holding her red bangs in front of her small eyes.

Ruby tried to stand up but couldn't, she was being overpowered by her emotions and the delufge of greyish rain, "I'm sorry" she said in a horse and pathetic voice.

"It's your fault" the girl said as she pushed her bangs away.

Ruby's eyes widened, the girl's physique shifted and changed and now she was staring down a teary eyed version of her three year old self.

"It's your fault she's dead!" Yelled her younger self, a strike of lightning punctuating her scream.

The lightning lit up the dark landscape for a few second, revealing the faces of the crowd. There she saw them, the faces of her friends and family starring disappointedly down at her.

A young Yang replaced the other faunus girl as she was now crying over their mother, Summer Rose's grave. The figure hugging her was now replaced with their father Tai, grey and withered hair replacing his dashing blonde locks and hot tears streaming from his red bloodshot eyes. The other shadow was now Qrow who remained in the position of a back hug around the young Ruby, his unamused scowl bearing down on the older Ruby with more weight than any rainfall could hope to produce.

Ruby reached out her shaking hand, "Qrow, please, I-I'm sorry! I-I-"

Her knees slipped on the muddy soil and she face planted into the brown muck.

" _It doesn't matter"_ she thought as she laid there in the filthy broth that was once the ground.

" _I deserve this, every second, I deserve it a thousand fold. Her family, I ruined them; her daughter, I made her…..me."_

A sinister chuckle rang out through her dream as the temperature plummeted.

"Death brings death, hate breeds hate, sorrow begets sorrow, and murderers birth murderers. Isn't it beautiful?" Said the the ominous voice.

Shaking furiously, Ruby slowly lifted herself up and gazed into the dirty pool of water that lay in the mud in front of her. Amidst the warping muck she spotted something truly terrifying, she saw her own reflection staring back at her.

However instead of the filth covered agonizing expression she held, the reflection's face was pale as a ghost and utterly spotless. Here expression was arrogant and detached with a slightly amused smile encroaching across her face. Her silver eyes appeared far darker and greyer, soulless.

"It felt good didn't it? To have that power, to finally be rid of one who wronged you so much, to watch as the life drained from their eyes. Did you enjoy it? I'm sure you did at least a little" it said in a creepily happy sing song tone.

Ruby shook her head violently, "No, it was horrible-I-I destroyed her life, her friends and family, I-I robbed this world of something I'll never be able to put back, I can't fix this I-I-I oh god no."

She began crying once again, this time specks of blood mixed with the water as they dripped into the murky pool.

The other Ruby in the pool rolled her eyes condescendingly, "What do you care about this pointless world? It has taken so much from you, YOUR friends, YOUR family, YOUR happiness! Now ask yourself, don't you deserve to take something from it?"

The Ruby smiled wickedly, her eyes changing from a tarnished grey to a molten orange-red, the same color of Cinder's. "Who cares if others suffer? They felt joy where you felt sadness, isn't that truly wrong? If you don't have a mother why should any other child in this god forsaken hell hole of a world know that pleasure?"

The Ruby caked in mud tried to cover her ears, "Please stop, whatever you are please stop this!"

The reflection rippled with every drop of red water that penetrated its surface. The other Ruby smiled, "Me? You mean YOU right? The little girl crying, the one lying face first in the mud, the true self staring back at the sad excuse for a hero in front of her, we are all Ruby, we are all you!"

"NO!" The other Ruby screamed, her voice cracking so much she couldn't speak.

The reflection cackled jovially, "Stop trying to be holier than me! You are no saint, you're no hero, you're just a sad, delusional little girl who has the blood of another on her hands! You're a disgusting, violent, depraved, psychotic, monstrous little human! Now tell me, isn't that truly beautiful!?"

Suddenly the crowd of people around her, including the younger Ruby, all lifted their fingers and pointed directly at the older Ruby hunched over the puddle and began emotionlessly chanting, "Murderer!"

The dreaming Ruby sobbed, "No, no, I'm not a-I'm not a-"

"Murderer!"

"No please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Murderer!"

The laughter of the reflection Ruby rang out louder than ever as the blood in the pool swirled and corrupted the image. Her complexion aged at lightning speed, her clothes began to tatter, her skin began to peel, her hair began to grey, her burning molten eyes began to cool to a black obsidian.

The horrifying transformation continued, "You and I are one and the same, we are both _**Misery**_ incarnate."

What remained of the Ruby now was nothing more than a charred black and decrepit skeleton with not a speck of flesh and only a few thin strands of tarnished grey hair across her cracked skull. Her cocky and knowing smile was replaced with a look of twisted and agonizing pain the likes of which Ruby couldn't even begin to imagine. Her once malicious eyes were now pitch black soulless voids that appeared to be doorways to another realm; a realm of death and damnation.

The contorted face managed a crooked half smile, "And you know what they say, Misery wants, and deserves company!"

Black tendrils shot out from the pool and constricted around Ruby. She fought and struggled but couldn't break free. The crowd continued their chant as the sounds of Beowulfs howling in the distance drew nearer and nearer and their ominous forms and blood red eyes began to slowly lumber out of the nearby forest and scaling the cliff side.

"No, what are you-" She yelled as the back tentacles contracted around her windpipe and silenced her.

The skeleton spoke again, her voice a terrifying mixture of grinding stones and primordial moans, "And I want yours!"

With a powerful yank the monster pulled Ruby down into the bloody puddle, she tried and tried to scream for help as her body sunk deeper and deeper into the gory sludge but she couldn't make a sound. The one thing she managed to whisper weakly before she was fully submerged was something she hadn't asked in years, "Mommy, where are you?"

* * *

"Her temperature is stable, but I'm not sure when she'll wake up" said the village doctor as he finished his check up on Ruby.

"I'll be taking my leave now."

Weiss nodded as she sat down on the bed where Ruby was ast asleep, "Thank you sir, you've been a great help."

He smiled, "No I must thank you and your friends, you've saved the village from those scoundrels. Oh and do try not to overexert yourselves, we don't know if there are any other effects to that tranquilizer and we wouldn't want you all collapsing like her."

Weiss nodded again, "We'll be safe, don't you worry."

With a friendly goodbye and a tip of the hat to the room's self imposed bouncer Mercury, he showed himself out, leaving the team of four girls alone in silence.

Blake was sitting on the other side of the bed, looking guiltily down at her unconscious leader and Yang was keeping herself busy by tending to the small fire in the room's fireplace. None of them really knew what to say or do after all how could they? How do you respond to your happy little team leader being forced to brutally murder someone?

"You can come in if you want Merc," said Yang eventually.

The silver haired boy nodded his head and left his self appointed post outside the room and joined the melancholy team RWBY.

Feeling the awkward tension in the room, he shrugged and scratched the back of his head, "So, um, what are you guys going to say to her after she wakes up?"

Yang's hand slipped slightly and the poker she was using to stir the flames of the fireplace caused a loud crackle and bright smark of embers, luring everyone's attention over to her. She shrugged, "Honestly, I have no idea, some big sister I am huh?" she said, an undertone of self disappointment permeating through her voice.

Merc shook his head sympathetically, "Don't be so hard on yourself, I-" He paused a moment to collect his thoughts, "I don't think any of us are ready for that, even if we knew something like this would happen eventually."

Yang sighed, "But I should have done better, I shouldn't have let those guys sneak up on me like that, I should have been awake, I-" she looked over at her little sister, sleeping with a peaceful and child like look on her face. "She shouldn't have had to be the one to do it, it should have been me to bear that burden."

Merc protested, "No, don't beat yourself up. I was right there, if I had just won my fight a few seconds earlier then I could have stopped her, both of them. It's all my fault."

"No, no, it's all me. I should have been more firm with my warning on the boat, plus I was completely at that Lieutenant's mercy. It was my stupidity that forced Ruby to...well...do what she had to," said Blake, a regretful sorrow in her voice as she absently stroked Ruby's air as if to comfort her sleeping leader.

Weiss sighed in her typical annoyed tone, "Will all of you just stop."

The other three were caught off guard by her seeming disrespect, she looked around at them and rolled her eyes, "Look, sitting around in a giant pity party and licking each other's wounds isn't going to solve anything. Yes Merc failed to get there in time, yes Blake failed to win her fight, yes Yang was asleep and couldn't do anything, and yes I let my own feelings and personal demons get in the way and supported Ruby in her hasty decision on the boat. But crying about it won't get that blood of her hand."

The room went silent, "Weiss…" said Yang.

The heiress shook her head in protest, "It's all our faults, even Ruby's that this happened to her, but none of that matters anymore. When she wakes up she is going to need all the support she can get to cope with what happened and we're going to be the ones that give it to her."

She smiled for what felt like the first time in an eternity, "Because after all supporting their leader is what teams do, right?"

Yang smiled back, "It's also what a family does."

Merc gagged and clutched his chest, "Sorry, I just felt all this cheese starting to clog up my arteries."

Yang rolled her eyes but continued to smile and even laugh at him, "Well you better get used to it, i've got a lot more kindergarten peace and love jargon to spew before this trip is over."

"I knew you'd be the death of me, I just always thought it'd be your damn puns, but I guess this is just as painful."

"Oh first you insult my wholesome family values and now my puns? That's it, you're officially worse than my mother, and she's a goddamn dictator!"

The whole room burst into laughter, the mounting stress of the terrible night having pushed them all to their emotional limit they really had nothing left to do but laugh and laugh at this first funny thing they'd heard all day. Weiss doubled over in her giggling fit, nearly falling out of her seat. Blake began to snort like a hyena from her hysteria, and Yang shed a few happy tears. However the spark of joy fled as quickly as it came.

Merc's smile faded, "Guys, I think Ruby is waking up."

The laughter ceased immediately and everyone turned their heads to Ruby who was starting to squire ever so slightly, her childish look of bliss contorting into a look somewhere between discomfort and genuine pain.

Yang recognized this look instantly, Ruby was having a nightmare. She rushed over to her bedside, nearly tripping along the way. She leaned down over her baby sister and kissed her on the forehead and motherly stroked the back of her head like she always did during her nighttime fits.

"Sssh, it's ok Rubes, it's ok, it's just a dream, it's not real" She said in a tone and voice far more mature than any had ever heard from her. She began humming a soothing lullaby to her, only singing a few words here and there:

" _Red Like Roses, hmm hm, hmmmm hmh, brings me to, hmm hmmmh you rest."_

With a violent jolt Ruby's eyes shot open and she bolted upright, "Where!?" She yelled to no one in particular as she regained consciousness. Her eyes darted around the room at her shocked teammates as clarity slowly returned to her mind, "What happened, where..where am I?"

Yang was taken aback, never before had that trick never worked on her little sister, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do and opted to simply pull her into a warm hug.

"Oh thank god you're ok Ruby, we were so worried."

Ruby had a dazed and puzzled look on her face, "Worried?" she said vacantly.

In a single moment in all came rushing back to her once again in disturbing clarity, the cave, the crazed woman, the blood, all the blood.

Her eyes filled with tears, "Oh god, Yang, I-I-I"

Yang stroked her hair, trying to keep from crying as well, "You don't need to think about that right now, you're safe, everyone's safe, everythings ok."

A sob escaped from Ruby, "It's not ok! I-I-I killed her! Oh god Yang. How could I do that! I-I'm a monster!"

All of a sudden, something happened that none of them expected, Blake leaned in across the bed and pulled both Yang and Ruby into a massive hug.

"It's ok" she whispered lovingly.

Ruby looked up at her face through her tears, "B-Blake, you're-"

Blake nodded, tears rolling down her own face now, "You did it, you saved me, everything will be ok now."

Ruby sniffled and returned to crying, more violently than before, "That's ok, let it all out, you've earned it, leader." Said the cat with a smile as she stroked the back of her head comfortingly, just like Yang was.

Ruby tried to speak again, "Weiss, I-I'm sorry I-."

The heiress simply let out a sniffle and a few tears before rushing over to join in on the group hug.

Merc, not knowing what to do, slowly and awkwardly backed his way towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Said a sniffling Yang, her eyes red from crying rather than anger.

Merc looked around awkwardly, "Well I don't really want to intrude on anything I, um, I'll just be going back outside.

Yang shook her head, "Oh no you don't, just get over here all ready."

Merc let loose the faintest of smiles, " _I swear this cheese is going to be the death of me,"_ he thought. But as he stepped over to the bed and joined in on the group hug, Yang's warm and loving aura burning right next to his, his smiled widened and another thought came to mind. " _But I guess I could get used to it_.

 **A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed it! We just reached 30 reviews so don't slow down just yet! Give me any feedback you want, positive or negative. See you guys in a few weeks for chapter 24: One Foot in Front of the Other.**


	28. Chapter 24: Rising Tensions

**A/N: Oh boy is this a big one. In fact I think it's the longest chapter since the V4 finally. Speaking of which the actual Volume 4 just ended...and it was awesome. Now back to my delusional fanfiction, enjoy!**

"Do we have everything in order?" asked Nora as she returned to the deck after placing the last of their supplies in the cargo hold.

Ciel poked her head out from the bridge window. "Yeah, now we just need to wait for the others."

As if on cue, Neo made her way onto the boat from the dock carrying a tray of fresh coffee, "Looks like you two could use a pick me up," she said.

Ciel smiled. "Look at you, reading our minds. I'll be right down," she said, disappearing from the window.

Nora skipped happily over to her friend and reached for a coffee only for her hand to be slapped away playfully.

"You honestly think I'd give you caffine? I got you a small decaf. Can I trust you not to go ballistic?" The ice cream haired girl taunted.

Nora rolled her eyes. "Honestly, with how tired I am now I could drink a few gallons of regular coffee and still be normal, but alright decaf it is." The girl took her less caffeinated drink and took a large gulp, the hot brew a welcome shock to her body after working in the cold early morning hours.

Their resident workaholic quickly joined the two for their break and all three of them sat on the side of the boat, dangling their legs above the choppy water and gazing out over the sleepy sunrise lit village. A few early risers began pouring into the town square to set up their stalls.

"This village is nice, we should really come back here after this is all said and done," said Neo with a smile on her face.

Ciel chuckled. "Careful, you know the old saying: 'Never let the grimm here you making plans.'"

Neo sighed. "I know, I know, but it doesn't hurt to have stretch goals, y'know?"

Her pink haired friend smiled, "Here, here, sister."

Ciel shrugged. "Well, forgive me if I don't think too much on the future before we deal with this _Cave of Wonders_ nonsense. Speaking of which, the village next to it is your hometown right?"

Neo gulped quietly and her smile faltered slightly. "Yeah, I haven't been back there in so long. I'm honestly kind of worried how they'll all react to me."

Nora jovially slapped her on the back, nearly causing her to drop her coffee into the ocean. "Probably with tears of joy and a suffocating group hug. Honestly, you worry way too much about the little things, Vanil."

The ice cream haired girl's smile returned to normal. "Ok, I'll take your word for it."

With another playful jab from Nora and a few more minutes of happily sipping their drinks, two more of their friends joined them. Walking up the ramp of the dock and onto the deck of the boat came Weiss and Mercury, both tired but decently content with the morning.

"Just got back from checking up on the prison. The remaining White Fang troops all seem ready to fold and cooperate with the town now that their only other leader is in solitary confinement," said Merc upon seeing Ciel's inquizitive glance.

Weiss spotted her friend's beverages and her face lit up only to drop upon realizing there was none for her. "Sorry," said Neo meekly, embarrassed that she forgot to by more.

"It's fine," the heiress said, slight disappointment still permeating her voice.

"Wheres Yang?" Asked Nora.

Merc shrugged. "Back at the house with Blake helping Ruby get ready for the trip, it's…..taking about as long as you'd expect."

An awkward and downtrodden silence fell onto the group after his report, quickly broken by a sly remark from Weiss. "You guys should have seen Merc pouting when he realized he couldn't go on an early morning stroll with Yang before leaving. He looked like Zwei after being told to sit in the corner."

Merc scowled indignantly at the heiress. "You bitch, don't you dare start rumors about me."

Weiss laughed the insult off. "You're blushing you know."

"It's cold."

"It's July."

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you, too."

"Guys, language, there are children nearby!" Interrupted Nora as she motioned towards the people coming their way.

Approaching the boat were Ren and Jaune with his mother and all seven of his sisters tailing behind him.

"Everything in order?" Jaune asked his teammates upon stepping onto the ship.

Nora smiled. "All the supplies are in the cargo hold!"

Ciel nodded. "The new engine is fully operational and raring to go."

The blonde haired boy saluted her in an exaggerated fashion. "Aye aye, Captain."

The beret wearing girl rolled her eyes but let out a smile and responded in an equally joking fashion. "My pleasure Commander."

Jaune's mother seemed to smile ever so slightly at their exchange. "It seems you have quite the panorama of friends here. I couldn't be happier for you. Although, I wished you'd all take up less reckless hobbies."

Her son smirked. "It's good to have wishes, but Mom, we'll be fine."

She nodded. "I know, I know, but I won't stop worrying about you. As a mom that's half my job description."

Lemon shot Jaune a thumbs up and wink. "Good luck, little bro. I expect at least a dozen tales about slaying grimm when you get back."

Jaune chuckled then turned to Goldenrod. "I expect you to be the responsible one."

"Hey! Well, you're not wrong," Said Lemon with a shrug.

Goldenrod nodded vigorously, her glasses nearly sliding off her face. "You can count on it."

Cream, Rapunzel, Sunflower, and Mellow all waved to Jaune tiredly, "Bye bye, Jauney," they said groggily.

Prinsalna sighed. "It's time I got you guys back to bed. Kids your age need their sleep."

Before ushering them away, Butterscotch stepped forward, a lot more lively than her other young siblings. "Jauney, please keep smiling. I don't want you frowning anymore!"

After a moment of surprise and hesitation Jaune put on the biggest smile he could muster. "Don't worry little Scotch, I'll be fine."

Ren and Nora both gave her assuring smiles, but only after getting an affirmative thumbs up from Ciel did she smile back. "Good luck," she said with a giddy chuckle.

"Are we ready to go?" asked Blake's uneasy voice from behind them.

Everyone looked up to see Blake and Yang walking down the dock towards them with forced half smiles while a depressed Ruby lagged behind them with her hood up and her head down.

Jaune gulped. "W-We're ready to go now. Um, h-how you feeling Ruby?"

Ruby shrugged and didn't take her eyes away from her tattered black boots. "I've had better mornings."

Ruby shambled past the arc family on the dock, nodding goodbye to his mother before climbing onto the boat and heading straight for the cabin, not bothering to address anyone else. "I'm still tired from...last night. I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up if anything happens. Until then you're in charge Jaune," she said in a somewhat disturbingly monotone voice.

The blonde warrior nodded. "Understood," he said awkwardly.

She turned her head to look at him, her face shrouded in the shade of her hood, leaving only her eyes properly visible. Once, the two spheres shone with all the brightness of a full silver moon. Now they were glowing a dim grey with eerie melancholy. The bags underneath her eyes, now darker than the shadows around her, and the strain of her posture combined to forge an aura about her that made her feel far older than her tiny teenage body had any right to be.

She nodded. "Thanks."

She disappeared down into the dark bowels of the ship's dusty cabin without another word, leaving a piece of her mood behind to contaminate the previously hopeful atmosphere. The rest of team RWBY and Merc all glared off at the door with volatile cocktails of emotions between them.

Prinsalna sighed, her signature worry setting into her rapidly aging face. "Good luck my son. It appears you're going to need as much as you can get."

* * *

Velvet woke up that morning when Coco began to toss and turn as she herself started to regain consciousness. Groggily lifting her arm from around her waist she shifted to the side and opened her eyes only to let in a shower of blinding light.

"Ahh, that stings" she said tiredly as she squinted and blocked the sun with her hands as she allowed the murky shapes that made up her vision solidify.

To her right Coco lifted herself into a sitting position on the bed and stretched, "YAAWWWNNN, good morning everyone" she said groggily.

Velvet smirked, Coco looked like a bear waking up from a long hibernation, only about a million times more cuddly.

"Did you sleep well?" The rabbit asked with a chuckle.

Coco nodded absently as cracked her neck, "Yeah, I think I did." She said with another yawn before her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Holy shit" she said, her head spinning towards Velvet, a dumb smile plastered across it.

Velvet gave her a confused look, "What is it, whats wrong?"

"I SLEPT WELL! This is the first time I've ever slept a whole night and not had the nightmare!" Her smile somehow widened, "And it's all thanks to you Velvs."

She quickly pulled Velvet into a loving hug which the faunus gladly reciprocated, "D-Don't mention it, honestly it was nothing." She said, however after last night it seemed like it was her turn to be flustered as her face turned bright red.

The two pulled away from the hug slightly, their faces still so close that their noses were nearly touching. The two looked deeply into each other's eyes for a few seconds, the time seemed perfect and the two reacted. Coco leaned forward, Velvet closed her eyes, they kissed.

The next thirty seconds where one of the happiest experiences Velvet had had in a long time. Velvet caressed Coco's cheek lovingly, enjoying every warm, moist second of their lips touching. Coco grabbed the back of her head and pulled her even loser, upping the intensity of the kiss further.

For better or worse, the sound of euphoric clapping from across the room brought their first make-out session to an end before it could escalate any further.

The two quickly turned to the source to see Fox lying on his own bed and clapping away with an amused smile on his face, "Don't let me stop you love birds do go on. Hey Yatsu you owe me some bet money!"

Yatsu rolled over on his own bed and let out a hearty laugh, "I can't believe it, our oblivious little lovers finally kiss. Although it's you who still owes me, you said it would take one year; it took two and a bloody war for them to come to. Heck I'm surprised they did this before we got into a retirement home."

Coco's face went bright red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, "Out, now!" She yelled.

Fox and Yatsu exchanged looks and both leapt from their beds and dashed out of the tent snickering like school boys the whole way.

"Of all the immature, childish, fucking, shit he's pulled. He just had to push our buttons now of all times."

Velvet placed her hand on Coco's shoulder, "It's alright Coco, please just calm down."

She gave her a look with her sad puppy dog eyes, prompting a sigh, "You know I can't stay mad when you do that."

The faunus smiled, "Of course you can't, why else do you think I keep doing it? Now let's go get some breakfast."

Coco considered this for a moment before nodding, "Alright."

"Great, now let's-" Before she could finish Coco pulled her back into a powerful kiss. She smiled devilishly, "But how about we stay here just a few more minutes, what do you say?"

Without saying a single word Velvet kissed back with surprising strength, " _I take that as a yes"_ thought Coco.

* * *

"Everyone move out! At this rate the Sentinels will be at the Northern Base in ten days! The defenses must be put in place immediately!" Yelled Adam at the top of his lungs for about the fifth time in the past few minutes.

The preparations for full scale war at the White Fang's East Mistral base were going at lightning speed, however the Sentinel's rapid deployment and approach had caught them off guard and behind schedule. They would have to send out a smaller number of troops to the front line defense but it would have to be enough, the loss of such an important strategic position so early in the war would be unacceptable.

"Don't get your panties in a twist Taurus my dear, it's not good for your complexion" said Cordelia as she sipped from her favorite brew of tea.

Adam's scowl worsened as he turned to her, the prim and proper commander was sitting in the driver's seat of one of the many armored trucks heading out for deployment to the northern base. Several White Fang members were scurrying around the trunk checking all the equipment and supplies.

Arsenic sat in the truck's back seat stretched out like a king. Upon seeing his bull headed brother in arms he gave him a slightly crazed smile, "Hey there old buddy, how do ya like this beast? Me and my boys took it from some Mistral troops a week back after we helped them, shall we say, _ascend,_ to a higher position."

Cordelia let out a controlled chuckle through her perfect smile, "Sir Hide how you make us laugh so, never change honey."

She glanced back at Adam's stress filled posture and shabby coat, "Although you're still a bit of a fixer upper dear."

Adam groaned at her insistent mocking, "Can you two take one thing seriously in your entire lives? Do you even know what we're all doing right now?"

Cordelia chuckled delicately, "Of course I know darling, I'm not a fool, I believe that's your job description."

She looked down at her cup, the faunus' posture was so refined and steady that the tea sat perfectly calm inside, allowing for a somewhat clear reflection of her face. "Our job is simple, make every last human pay for their transgressions against us in blood." Her smile widened, exposing her perfectly white teeth that, when combined with her bright red lipstick, made the reflection of her mouth look like that of a grimm on a killing spree, "With a sizable interest of course," she added, licking her lips ever so slightly before taking another sip from her tea, pinky up as always.

Pascal, who was sitting in the passenger's seat next to Cordelia with her head against the window and pistols at her side, groaned in annoyance, "Will the three stooges please take their bickering to one of the DOZENS of other trucks here? I need my beauty sleep."

Arsenic giggled, "Oh yes you do."

Pascal spun around in her seat and deployed her talons from her fingers, "I'm sorry but do you want all your teeth ripped out of your skull? Because I'd happily do it for you!"

"Enough of this petty squabbling!" boomed a deep and imposing voice from outside the truck.

Pascal turned back around and nearly had a heart attack, their leader Bismuth stood a mere few feet away, looking harshly into the open window of her side. His giant twin butcher knives strapped to his back glittered eerily in the morning sunlight. His semblance continued to exude an ominous cloud of black mist from his aura that darkened the area around the truck. Most of the White Fang troops nearby had completely stopped working and stood in terrified attention at their boss' presence.

Upon seeing him, the rest of the Food Chain panicked. Arsenic let out a yelp of fear and jumped slightly into the air and put a small dent into the roof before scrambling into the most formal posture he could manage and produced a salute. Cordelia momentarily lost her princess like composure and unceremoniously spat her tea all over the truck's dashboard and dropped her cup, causing it to shatter completely.

"Sir Bismuth! What a wondrous surprise that you would greet us this fine morning!" She said as she saluted him.

Adam and Pascal both gulped and quickly followed her lead, "W-what are your orders sir!" We will do anything you ask of us!" Said Adam so fast it was practically on instinct.

Bismuth stared daggers at him in annoyance, "Stop with your insistent bootlicking Taurus."

The bull faunus gulped yet again and nodded furiously, "Y-yes sir, it won't happen again sir."

The faunus rolled his indifferent yet harsh swamp green eyes before returning his gaze to the three in the armored truck, "As for you three I expect professionalism from you, especially you Cordelia."

The normally arrogant woman shrunk in her seat, "Y-yes Sir" she said sheepishly.

He moved his gaze to Arsenic, "Try to control your temper Hide, we don't need our troops to spend their time cleaning up our enemies' guts again."

Arsenic nodded vigorously like a scared puppy, satisfied with the fear he had instilled Bismuth moved his gaze lastly to Pascal before him, "Crestwood, you've mastered your semblance am I correct?"

She nodded, "Good, but listen closely, you must not use it under any circumstance during this campaign. It is a trump card of the utmost importance for dealing a critical blow to the Schnees. It MUST remain a secret until the time comes. Do you understand?" He said in a calm yet frightening voice.

"You have my word sir, and when the time comes, we will see those monsters crumble before us."

Bismuth cracked what barely resembled a sadistic smile underneath the cloth of his tattered black cloth, "Good you are all dismissed."

The terrifying leader looked back up at Adam, "Except for you Taurus, you're staying here at the main base with me, as for the rest of you, make sure to slaughter the humans without mercy."

He turned from his subordinate officers to see the crowd of saluting soldiers around him. He scowled fiercely, "What are you imbeciles doing? GET BACK TO WORK!" He boomed, his voice scattering his terrified troops to the four winds, his aura flare up with his outburst and let out a massive cloud of black mist that enveloped the area.

* * *

Coco cracked her knuckles as she and Velvet left the now nearly abandoned mess hall tent after finishing their breakfast, "I guess that slop is finally growing on me, because damn was that the best meal I've had in a long time."

Velvet rolled her eyes, "Are you sure it was the food you liked? Or did I imagine you staring at me the whole time?"

Coco shrugged, "Fair point, fair point."

The rabbit faunus smirked and pulled her into a one armed hug around her shoulder, "Well I was staring at you half the time, so I guess I'm guilty too."

Coco smiled back but quickly frowned and looked around frantically, Velvet looked at her worriedly, "What's wrong Coco?"

She sighed, "Please don't take this the wrong way Velvet but, we need to keep this secret around the other soldiers. I highly doubt Naslain will approve of fraternization in the ranks, and my sister...well you know her, I bet she'd blow a fuse or worse if she saw us holding hands. And as for Vericks...well she's been salty ever since I turned her offer to date down a few years ago, she'd go just as ballistic if she found out I was dating a faunus."

Velvet's smirk widened, "Oh so I'm your girlfriend now am I? That's quite presumptuous of you."

Coco rolled her eyes, "Velvet please, don't play games with me."

The faunus laughed flirtily, "I'm not playing, you haven't actually asked me yet have you? To be your girlfriend?"

Coco shook her head and accidently let out a smile, "Fine. Will you, Velvet Scarlatina, be my girlfriend?"

Velvet cocked her head slightly and considered the offer, "Nah."

"What!? What do you mean no!?" Said Coco in shocked dismay.

Velvet nearly doubled over laughing, "Wow, you really are gullible despite your cool exterior, I'll be sure to remember that. But no, I was joking, Of course I'll be your girlfriend, i've only been waiting for you to ask me for over a year."

Coco chuckled bashfully while scratching the back of her head awkwardly, "Yeah, and I've been waiting about that long for you to ask me, damn Fox and Yatsu were right, we really are hopelessly oblivious."

Velvet chuckled back, "Well let's hope that's a trait that runs in your family and Java doesn't catch on. But if it'll make you feel better we can keep our new relationship a secret for now, but you have to promise me that once this war is over we confront your sister about us together."

She nodded in agreement, "Of course Velvs, you have my word."

The tender moment between the two budding lovers was cut unfortunately short by the sound an erupting argument from the center of camp.

"What's going on?" Asked Velvet worriedly, breaking eye contact with Coco to look over at the gathering crowd a few tents down.

The two spotted Team JAVA standing stone faced and at attention in the front along with Alexirus and Pale, both looking deeply uncomfortable with whatever was happening.

The two approached Fox and Yatsuhashi in the sea of people, "What's happening?" They asked.

"The general is back to his old tricks again." Said Sun from next to them, a bitter scowl on his face.

"Leave this camp immediately, or you will be detained for terrorist activity!" Boomed Naslain as he stormed from his tent.

Quickly behind him came Ebony and Regulus, emotionlessly pushing a helpless old faunus to the ground along with his injured young assistant. The two were dressed in rags and covered in filth, the old man looked so malnourished he seemed like he cold drop dead at any moment.

The old man struggled to his feet, "P-please kind sir, we need your help."

Naislan scowled at the pitiful sight of the two beggars, "The Sentinels are playing their part in protecting the peace that people of your kind seem so insistent on dragging through the mud. So tell me why would I entrust my enemy with supplies!?"

He spat at the old man, sparking the rage of his young assistant, "Arrogant human! Don't you dare disrespect my chief!" On impulse he sprung up and looked as if he would throw a punch at the general. Naslain crabbed the base of his shotgun. Velvet preemptively cringed at the thought of what might happen next, however the old man stepped in before things could turn ugly.

"Stop my son! Please don't antagonize the good man, we are here to ask for aid, not wage war."

The chieftain's son obeyed and stood down, "Please forgive my transgressions kind general" he said in a formal and respectful voice, which earned him a disgusted scowl from Naslain.

"Good, now that there are no hard feelings I can tell you two animals to once again leave my camp or you will force me to take drastic action against you and your sorry group."

"B-but sir! We are simple refugees. Our villages were all attacked by bandits, grimm, and anti-faunus extremists. Many of us have lost our families, I myself have lost my have no food, no protection, and our children could meet their maker anyday with the White Fang destroying everything in their path. Please help us."

Naslian laughed and looked around at the crowd of his own men gathering around in morbid curiosity about what would happen next. Taking the opportunity to turn this aggravating squabble into something theatric that could stroke his ego he spoke out to the group in a sarcastic tone.

"Very well, let us forfeit our food and bedding, the few comforts we have for this war for a few muts. Let us prioritize the safety of a few dozen shit eating furballs and four leggers over that of the brave men and women here fighting for the safety of the world!"

Team CRDL burst into immature laughter, "Hit the nail on the head general!" Yelled Cardin through his teary-eyed chuckles.

Java, who was standing at attention besides him and his team mates shot them a death glare which shut them up immediately.

With their outburst over, Naslian continued his speech, "While we're at it, why don't we just hand them all our weapons and ammunition and point them to the nearest White Fang recruiter! After all what's one more soldier on the enemy's front lines? I'll tell you what it is, it's another bullet heading for you!"

He punctuated his statement by pointing out at the cord of young soldiers, "It's another good soldier dead, another person not here fighting the good fight, and another family sitting at home, torn apart and crying because of what these terrorists have done."

He paused for a second to let his words sink in, "It's their blood and tears, or yours. Now which would you like to see spilt on these damned lands?"

He went silent as he waited for anyone to speak up, none did, all were too fixated on the shotgun the holstered to his side that he seemed ready to fire by "accident" at a moment's notice.

"Well, my people have spoken, and as a leader yourself, one does not simply go against the wishes of the people." The general said with a satisfied grin.

The chieftain lowered his head in sullen defeat. His son grit his teeth, shaking with barely contained fury.

"Now leave before I have my soldiers waste their time escorting you back to your herd." He said with one last bit of vitriolic venom.

"Yes Sir, we are sorry for the inconvenience" the old man said sheepishly.

As the two began to sulk away Velvet couldn't contain herself any longer, "General Sir, there must be some spare provisions we can give to these poor people, they aren't are enemies and we don't need to make them so."

Naislain shot her a glare that could kill a weaker person than she, "Bite your tongue private, what have I told you faunus about speaking out of turn. Or are your cartoonish ears not working?"

Velvet blushed and seemingly shrunk down in embarrassment, her rabbit ears falling depressingly to the sides of her head.

The sight of her new girlfriend's sorrow sparked a reckless fire in Coco's spirit, she was done watching her be pushed around, "How dare you! These people are starving, you can't just leave them to die because of your damn racial preju-gah" before Coco could say anything that could get her and her teammates killed, Java stepped in and slapped her across the face.

"I deeply apologize for my sister's behavior general. The stress of our campaign has simply been getting to her and she is having trouble sleeping as a result." She shot her sister an angry and disappointed glare, "She simply isn't thinking clearly, I hope you can forgive her transgression."

Naislain held his infuriated gaze at Team CFVY for a few seconds before shaking his head, "Very well, you are excused this once private." He turned his attention back to the two refugees still lingering to watch the unfolding scene, Now you two, get off the premise NOW!"

Alexirus leaned into Pale and whispered to him, "You're his second in command, if there is anyone who can convince him it's you."

Pale gulped, "Well I don't want to overstep my bounds, especially when he is this angry."

The young prodigy rang his fingers worriedly through his hair, "Please sir, you can be a hero."

The simple mention of heroism snapped Pale out of his worried funk and lead him to speak out against Naislian's decision.

"My good general Naislian, I must respectfully disagree with this decree. I believe it would be a tactical misstep to leave refugees like these without supplies. While it would be foolhardy to provide them with arms, simply sparing them a few morsels will do wonders for their moral. And you know what that will keep at bay."

The general considered this proposal for a few seconds before shrugging with indifference, "Very well. Ebony, Regulus, aid these two in bringing the expired supplies to their camp. They can pick off the mold themselves, don't let them out of your sights, and if either reach for a weapon you have my permission to dispose of them."

The two stiff soldiers saluted him in unison, "Right away General!"

The old man smiled, "Thank you kind sir, we will be forever grateful. Right my boy?"

The son squinted his eyes in hardly contained disgust, "Yes, we are."

The general disappeared back into his tent and the crowd began to disperse, Java looked back at Coco with an annoyed eye roll, "We need to have a talk tonight." Before leaving herself.

Pale Arc smiled triumphantly and slapped Alexirus on the back, "You see boy, that's what it looks like to be a hero." He said, seemingly trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

As the two refugees passed by the old man said thanks once again, this time directed at Coco and Velvet who smiled back. The young man glared at Sun and leaned in close, "Domestic Traitor to you kind." He said hatefully before leaving with his father.

Sun didn't seem to react at all, he simply stared down at his feet with an indecipherable look in his eyes, "My team will want to know what happened here, I should get back to them now" he said emotionlessly.

Without saying another word the troubled young man stormed off towards the tents, reaching into his back pocket and throwing his "Haven Faunus Bage" into the dirt along the way.

* * *

That night Ruby felt herself absently shambling through an empty void. " _Great this again, what fresh hell awaits me now?"_ She thought bitterly, too tired to even care anymore.

(In Hushed Whispers from the Dragon Age Inquisition Soundtrack begins to play  watch?v=1IR2k6-_Hmc)

The void around her seemed to shift and change. The vast expanse of nothingness solidified into stone buildings and houses. The nonexistent floor beneath her feet transformed into patchwork cobblestone covered in moss. Despite the new surroundings, the lighting of the dream seemed to stay the same, shadowy and ominous with barely enough light to give her a general idea of what was around her.

From the run down look of all the buildings around her and the narrow, trash filled street, she found herself on she deduced she was in some form of slums. The streets and shops were utterly deserted, with only the sound of clanging window shutters and old doors left ajar against the mournful winds that ruffled her cape and skirt.

"I don't recognize this place at all, where am I?" Ruby asked no one in particular.

As if on cue she heard the sound of feet splashing through the puddles of rainwater behind her. On instinct she spun around and placed a hand on her Scythe, ready for battle.

But it wasn't an adversary that was racing towards her, it was two little girls with a plethora of cuts and bruises panting like they were on the verge of dropping dead. The smaller one tripped on an uneven stone and tumbled into a muddy pool of water.

"Ouch, it hurts! I want mommy!" She yelled, tears in her eyes.

The older sister spun around and violently pulled her sister to her feet, "Shut up, we have to keep moving or they'll kill us! Do you want to end up like Tod and Ana!?"

The little sister's crying intensified, leading to more frustrated yelling from the older one. The two wore thin black cloaks with hoods that obscured their faces. The front of said cloaks were opened, revealing the tattered remains of a fancy little dress on the younger and what appeared to be an elegant white toga on the other.

"Where are those little demons!?" Yelled a gruff and angry voice from around the far corner of the alleyway.

The older sister's eyes widened, "The mob's already caught up, we have to go NOW!" she hissed as she took off sprinting off past Ruby, forcefully pulling her sister behind her.

Ruby wasted no time in following, leaping from wall to wall to keep up with the desperate pace of the two runaways. As she followed them through the winding dark city streets she began to take more and more notice of its sorry state.

From the shops, to houses, to buildings, everything seemed to be visibly decaying from neglect and collateral damage of some kind. Most still standing were boarded up and with what appeared to be hunting traps lining their premise. All forms of light were snuffed out and the only signs of life were the occasional frightened civilian popped their terrified heads out before quickly retreating back into their dark hovels like groundhogs.

All streets, including what she assumed was the main square, were abandoned with the exception of a few oblivious drunks stumbling and crying in the darkness while mumbling what appeared to be unintelligible prayers, Ruby couldn't stop to question them for fear of losing the fleeing children but she managed to pick up a few words here and there.

" _Misery comes...One by One….So much howling….Silent Mother…Hope is shattered...why must you punish us Mother?"_

The alleyways became narrower and narrower as she continued and the kids became more and more reckless with their movements. They bobbed and weaved through ruined buildings, leapt across dangerous gaps dropping down into murky sewers, and eventually resorted to climbing ontop of and off of houses. As she grew closer she increased her speed even more and leapt high into the air to catch up completely, but as she reached the height of her ascent she looked up into the sky and was left speechless by what she saw.

Hovering gloomily above her was the moon of Remnant, as shattered and incomplete as always. However this time it looked different, instead of its typical bluish white tint it was a wounded blood red, with what appeared to be a thin greyish black pulsating mist surrounding it. The lunar fragments that normally floated harmlessly next to it violently churned and twirled around in a ravaging storm that seemed to raze the already desecrated surface of the celestial body. With every few seconds a flash of of silent dust like lightning arced across it's scared surface from rock to rock, further stirring the caldron of chaos.

With every flash Ruby felt a pang of indescribable sadness that was not her's, as if she were feeling the emotions of someone else. The eerie voice of her reflected self from the previous dream whispered in her head.

" _Pay for your sins, all of you. It's what everyone in this blood stained world of ours deserves. Mercy is too good for anyone."_

"Get out of my head!" Ruby yelled. Once she hit the ground she took off running after the girls yet again.

She eventually caught up with the tiered siblings when the they had finally ran themselves into a corner. A dead end alleyway with nowhere to go.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" The older sister yelled, tears welling in her eyes.

The younger sister fell to her knees and began sobbing profusely, "I WANT MY MOMMY!" She screamed hysterically.

The sounds of an angry mob began brewing behind them, even after all their efforts they were still right on their tail and closing in.

The two girls cuddled together and pressed themselves in a corner, "Sis I want to see mommy and daddy!" The little girl begged with a shaky voice.

The older one gulped and pulled her hug tighter around her, "Just close your eyes Kathy. We'll...we'll see them soon, I promise."

"There they are!" Yelled a voice.

A mob of roughly a fifteen men, both young and middle-aged, rounded the corner carrying random assortments of short swords, bats, and brass knuckles. They all wore old and unkept farming clothes giving off the impression that they were all peasants compared to the relatively ritzy clothing the two girls wore under their cloaks.

The mob stepped forward slowly like a horde of grimm, "It's all because of _your_ kind that this happened. YOU disrespected the mother! You honestly think you can get away with that with your lives!? Kill 'em slowly boys! Make sure they understand just how much they all deserve to suffer for their crimes!"

The mob cheered and hollered happily as they continued to advance on the two terrified girls.

Ruby's heart sank, seconds crawled by like hours. With every step the pain of what was about to happened was hammered in more. These two children were about to be killed by a mob and she couldn't help them. She was just a spectator to all this. A hero that can't save anyone, how fitting.

One of the men now stood directly over the cowering girls and lifted his weapon up high, "Now repent!" He screamed.

Just as his bat began to swing downward a blast of white light came from nowhere and the man, as well as the rest of the mob, were knocked backwards onto the pavement.

As the brilliant light subsided, the form of a man appeared in front of the girls. He was a faunus with a large green Crocodile tail that swung back and forth in a rhythm almost as comfortingly hypnotic as his striking blue eyes. His left hand lay readily on the hilt of his sheathed longsword that clanged slightly against his full body armor which bore the shimmering white crest of an elegant Wyvern. His whole suit glittered with dazzling white radiance, a real knight in shining armor.

(Music Ends)

"S-sir Celsius!" The man said in surprise.

Celsius gazed down at the girl's attacker indifferently, "You know what the council of Lionheart have decreeded. Hate crimes against humans have been blacklisted as capital offenses.

" _Wait, hate crimes against humans?"_ THought Ruby confusedly.

The men all stumbled to their feet, "The council be damned! They're nothing but a hollow shell of what the church used to be!"

The men stepped forward again, the dull glow still radiating from Sir Celsius' armor casted a faint light on the crowd's faces, bringing Ruby to the realization that they were all faunus.

"This is all because of those fucking humans! They shit the bed! They brought the _Beasties_." Said the mob's leader.

Another man from the crowd yelled out, "Yeah! They created the Beasties to our front door with their heretical _magic_! We should throw them to the wolves first! Make them repent for what they did to mother with their lives as payment!"

Celsius shook his head sternly, "It doesn't matter who brought or who created the Beasties. ALL our prayers to ALL our gods have fallen on deaf ears. We share this dying world now and we all have to cooperate ban together to quell this evil!"

The man in front snarled, "Damn your cooperation, and damn your pet humans too! Those two aren't just any traitorous humans, they're Witches! Necromancers! Succubi! Demons! Just look at their eyes, as Silver as the souls they've undoubtedly stolen!"

" _Silver eyes!?"_

Ruby spun around to look at the two girls still huddled together in the corner of the street. The light from the man's armor allowing her to see their faces, and more importantly the twin sets of silver orbs they held upon them.

Sir Celsius stood his ground, "Meaningless superstitions and wives tales. Go back to your homes. Killing and hating this night will only bring beasties come morn. As a high ranking knight in the proud order of the Lionhearts I order you all to disperse immediately!" He boomed.

Not wishing to face a warrior of such high caliber, the men growled back at him and angrily stormed off back to their homes, leaving him alone with the two girls with silver eyes.

The knight turned to the two, who cringed in fear in response. Celsius smiled, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. What are your names? And where are your parents? I'd very much like to meet them."

The older sibling sniffled and answered him in a shaky voice, "I'm Rebecca and this is Kathy. When the mob came after us they told us to run, we heard screaming, and then nothing."

The knight muttered a curse under his breath but then approached the two girls with a compassionate smile, "I'm going to be leaving town soon, and since your parents...won't be able to look after you for awhile, how about you come with me? There are a lot of people at my camp who I think you'd really like. Especially these four pretty sisters, I'm sure they can put on a nice magic show for you."

The two girls exchanged glances, "But what about the Beasties? Mommy and Daddy always said that if we left the town the Beasties would get us."

The man chuckled heartily, "The Beasties aren't so scary. If you aren't afraid of them then they can't hurt you. You aren't afraid are you?"

The older sister looked worriedly at her younger sister, the only family she had left who was currently hanging onto her as if her life depended on it, the girl steeled herself and nodded, "I'm not afraid."

The man smiled yet again, "Good, now let's go, everyone will be excited to see you. I tell ya, you and those silver eyes of yours are going to take yo so many wonderful places."

All of a sudden the dream began to fade away and the dark expanse of the void began to fill Ruby's senses yet again. The last thing she heard before waking up was the knight finishing his words of encouragement, "So let's get going then."

* * *

While her dream was far from pleasant, Ruby managed to wake up without screaming and crying like a lunatic, which was a marked improvement at the very least. She groggily rose up into a sitting position and scanned the dark bunk room.

Team JNPR were all fast asleep in their own beds, Nora and Jaune snoring obnoxiously. Ciel had surprisingly turned in for the night for once and was fast asleep in her bunk below Jaune's. Ruby stuck her head forward and gazed up at the bed above her. The quiet sound of rhythmic breathing and the sight of a few strands of white hair falling over the bedside let her know that her partner was fast asleep.

She looked down at the side of her own bed and smiled at the sight of her trusty Corgi Zwei snoozing away. " _Even after all this you can still sleep soundly. Man I wish I were a dog,"_ she thought.

Looking across the room from her position she noticed something peculiar. Her sister Yang, as well as Blake and Mercury were all nowhere to be seen. Infact even Neo's bed was vacant, and she normally turned in whenever Nora did. Not wanting to return to her dreams for fear of getting a worse one, Ruby decided to go investigate. She quietly crawled out of bed, and tiptoed her way to the door.

Once on deck she took the chance to breath in the cool salty night air, lifting her spirit somewhat and giving her a slight smile. She heard muted laughter coming from above in the bridge and quietly snuck her way around to the door and peeked in through the window.

Mercury, Blake, Neo, and Yang were all lounging around a small table exchanging jokes and funny stories while playing what looked like poker. Ruby put her ear against the opening in the door and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"And then Blake caved in and followed the laser pointer all the way to me!" Yang yelled, receiving and round of hysterical laughter from Neo and Mercury and an embarrassed "Hey" from a blushing Blake.

Her partner retorted, "That's nothing compared to that time you had your little wardrobe malfunction.

Yang's face lit up bright red, "Belladonna I swear to god if you say one more word I'm throwing you overboard!"

Merc smiled devilishly, "No let the girl speak, I'd very much like to hear this story."

"Oh I bet you do you little pervert!" She said, punching him playfully in the arm.

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black" remarked Neo.

Yang rolled her eyes, "Oh ha, ha, ha, very funny Ice Cream. Don't act like you're so innocent, i've seen you checking Weiss out."

Neo scoffed, "Oh please, all of you are far to you for me."

"I call Bullshit, you're only two years older than us."

"Physically, but from this discussion I can tell that mentally, you all belong in middle school."

Blake shook her head indignantly, "Hey don't lump me in with these depraved jerk offs!"

Neo rolled her eyes, "Huh what was that? Did I hear something about Ninjas of Love?"

The mention of her favorite guilty pleasure made her face light up as red as Ruby's hair, causing everyone at the table to roar with laughter so loud they were in danger of waking up their sleepy crew below. Even Ruby couldn't help but laugh, as depressing as her life had become, it was nice to bask in the glow of happiness, even if she was simply getting it residually from the joy of others.

However Ruby regretted the small outburst when she heard the group of four go completely silent, " _Shit, did they hear me?"_ She thought in a panic, legitimately considering making a sprint for the bunk room.

"I recognize your laugh anywhere Rubes, stop crouching in the shadows and join us already," said Yang.

After a few moments of hesitation Ruby opened the door and awkwardly walked in, the whole group was staring at her and wearing strained smiles.

'H-hey guys, sorry for spying. I was just having a hard time sleeping, I saw you up here and, well, I didn't want to just barge in…"

"Don't worry, it's fine. Come on Blake, deal her in." Said Mercury with an unsure voice.

"Be careful what you wish for, I've played her before and she is a monster at this game" said Neo with a forced inflection of humor.

Ruby pulled up a chair and sat down between Blake and Yang, both of which had a hard time making eye contact with her, and picked up her hand. The game went on in an awkward silence devoid of the lighthearted fun that had been there before Ruby arrived. Every few seconds it felt to her that her friends were gazing up from their own cards to inspect her, as if they viewed her as some sort of ticking time bomb on the verge of exploding.

"So, uh, anything interesting happen when I was asleep?" Ruby asked meekly already feeling tired once again from the atmosphere.

"Nothing really, the waters have been pretty quiet" said Neo cautiously, choosing her words very carefully.

"We'll be at this village in about two weeks, you can thank our tireless captain for that" said Merc, not looking Ruby in her eyes just like the rest of them.

Ruby nodded quietly and the game resumed, no more energetic than it was before. After a few more minutes Ruby tired to break the silence, "So I heard you guys swapping funny stories, "Anyone got another one?"

The four of them looked back and forth between each other before Yang spoke up, "Well I still have a few, and a couple jokes but they're all pretty risque, I'm not sure you're ready."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Sis please, I'm sixteen, I'm, well…", she paused a second and sighed, "...Far from innocent."

Yang gulped, "Y-yeah, I guess you've grown up a lot. Well here goes, so there was this one time in professor Peach's class…" Yang continued her inappropriate stories and jokes, prompting a few smirks and laughs to break through the depressing atmosphere but none that could dispel it. Even Yang seemed to be having so much trouble getting into her own jokes that Ruby counted at least four potential puns that Yang failed to capitalize on.

Eventually the few glimmers of enjoyment faded and Yang ran out of stories, leaving the room once again in depression. After several minutes of excruciating silence, Ruby couldn't take it anymore. "You know what, I think I might go to bed, you guys were clearly having more fun without me. I'm sorry for troubling you." She said awkwardly before getting up from her seat.

Yang leapt up to her feet, "N-no! You're not bothering us at all! You can stay."

"No Yang, I know when I'm the elephant in the room. So guys, please just go back to having fun, I don't want to ruin anything more than I already have."

Blake grabbed Ruby gently by the wrist, "Ruby you're our leader, you haven't ruined anything. After all you sa-" She cringed at the realization of what she was about to say but reluctantly said it anyways, "-Saved me."

Ruby shook her head, "But I didn't save you, I-I can't save anyone. I was stupid and almost got everyone killed, I wasn't strong enough and I-I had to kill someone. All I can do is ruin everything."

The room went silent yet again, this time somehow even more suffocating than before. Neo looked down at her feet sullenly, not knowing what to say. Yang stood there with a saddened and pained expression on her face. Merc exhaled exhaustedly and ran his and silently through his hair. Blake looked up at Ruby, her enthralling Amber eyes giving Ruby the one bit of eye contact she had gotten the whole night. Within them was a near indescribable expression. It was one filled with an intense mixture of volatile of equal parts sympathy and guilt.

Ruby sighed as she tugged her arm loose from her. "Now look at me, I'm falling apart and I literally suck the joy out of the air of any room I enter."

She stepped away and headed for the door. "I'm sorry, coming up here was a mistake. And don't worry about my mental state affecting the mission, tomorrow I plan to step down and let Juane take the lead. Goodnight everyone."

"You shouldn't be ashamed of this," said Merc.

Ruby stopped, her hand already on the door handle. She looked back at him, "What do you mean?"

Merc sighed. "What you're feeling. You loath the fact that you had to kill someone, but that just proves that you're a good person. That even though you have blood on your hands, you don't have the heart of a killer."

Everyone in the room looked back at him in surprise, Merc of all people giving Ruby advice. It was Neo who followed his lead, "You're just a person that got forced into an impossible situation. Merc and I? We're the real killers here."

Merc nodded, "Growing up with an assassin, working with a terrorist, last night when I came to rescue you guys, how many people do you think I've killed? How many hours of sleep do you think I've lost because of it? The ratio would sicken you as much as it sickens me."

He shrugged, "The people i've killed, I can't even remember their names, much less feel as bad as I should about ending their lives. I'm not a good person, and whether I save the world with you or not I'll still be the guy who doesn't lose a single wink after killing somebody."

"Merc," said Yang sorrowfully.

The silver haired boy waved her off, "Us, the White Fang, Raven, what is it that we all have in common? We are all trying to make this world a better place, but what makes US different? The answer is you, WE have you, our moral compass. You always try and find a peaceful solution, and when it falls through you don't just brush it off. You mourn your enemies, and honestly, that's a trait I kinda wish I had."

He paused for a second to let his words sink in, "So keep trying to find those peaceful solutions, but just make sure you know that you can rely on us when you can't find them. Leave the killing to the killers when you can, you don't need the loss of sleep."

All four girls in the room stared slack jawed at him in a mixture of of surprise and impressment.

Merc blushed, "What? Oh come on I can be deep and meaningful sometimes!"

Ruby cracked a smile and a small laugh. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, you just threw us for a loop there."

Merc crossed his arms indignantly as Neo, Blake, and Yang snickered. "Not all guys can be dumb and lovable like Jaune, some of us are smart."

After the laughing died down Ruby's smile stayed, "Thank you Merc, I really needed that."

He nodded. "Good, now get your ass over here and play poker with us."

"Oh? You sure about that? I might just take everything you own. Like Neo said I'm great at this game."

Merc scoffed. "Please, I'm knocking you off your high horse tonight leader!"

Neo chuckled, "Famous last words Merc, famous last words."

Ruby sat back down on in her chair. Blake gave her a sideways smile, "Glad you decided to stay."

"Don't mention it kitty cat."

"Never call me that again."

"Ok."

Yang pulled Ruby into a big hug, "You know what, I just thought of another inappropriate story, let me tell you all in intense detail."

The whole group groaned in annoyance but continued to laugh as she told it, the atmosphere feeling far lighter than it had once been.


	29. Chapter 25: When Extremes Meet

**Here we begin a two-parter that I have been planning since the very** **begging** **of this fic. I really ope you enjoy it!**

 **Chapter 25: When Extremes Meet**

"Is everything in order?" Yelled Pascal as she raced through the shoddy ramparts of the White Fang's front line base.

Kuro, the private from her first deployment unit, turned to her from his work organizing their artillery with an anxious expression. "Almost madam commander. We'll be ready for battle in about two hours."

Pascal shook her head glumly and looked out over the battlements. The two hundred soldiers they had taken from their main base to defend the front line fort were all scrambling into positions for their uphill defense that would be coming that night. The anti-terrorist army of the Sentinels headed by the dreaded general Naislain were practically on their doorstep, far ahead of their original prediction. The size of the base was modest to put it lightly, and it was only armed with a skeleton crew recently to simply watch for enemy activity. It was a stopover hideout, not a fortress for a final stand.

She sighed, "Two hours, I'm holding you to that captain."

She stormed off towards the rest of her pre battle duties, her anxiety only mounting as the time dragged on. Eventually she made her way to the head planning room where Arsenic and Cordelia were sitting on old decrepit couches and mulling over maps of the area's terrain and the most recent reports on the enemy's movements from their scouts.

Cordelia groaned in annoyance, her polite noblewoman appearance remaining strong despite the strain of the pre-war atmosphere, "For better or worse Naislain's forces have thrown caution and strategy to the wind and are marching straight towards us in one massive wave."

Arsenic, who was getting antsy for a fight and bouncing his leg up and down, gave his two cents on the matter, "We can use this. We got a buncha mines in the storage room, let's lay some traps on the way here!"

Pascal shrugged, "We don't have enough time to bury any. Besides this is the 'Dread General' we are dealing with, trying to slow his approach down with explosives would be like trying to trip an avalanche."

The excitable faunus commander slumped down in his sat in disappointment.

"I have an idea that could work" said Cordelia.

She gestured to four areas around the base on the map in front of her, "If we station a commander with a squad in each location, place that team KMSN you've spoken highly of in charge of the last one, we can do quick blitzes on their side ranks as they approach. With luck we can sow some chaos in their ranks."

Arsenic smiled, "Chaos, I can do that."

Pascal nodded, "Let me guess, once we break their ranks we _gently_ usher their esteemed general and his vanguard into the main base."

Cordelia smiled and took a sip from her teacup in satisfaction. "Then we close the gates and dog pile on them. With him and the other officers dead, his army will be nothing more than a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. We might actually be able to pull this off."

A White Fang soldier came barrelling into the command room looking winded and worried, "Commanders..at the gates...there's-"

Arsenic growled and sunk his claws into the ragged arm of his couch, "If you tell me they're already here I swear to god I'll rip your throat out!"

The grunt cringed backwards sheepishly, "N-no sir! There's something else. I-I think it'd be better if I just showed you."

Pascal motioned for her two comrades to stay seated, 'I'll check it out."

She left the room with the soldier, leaving Cordelia and Arsenic alone. Cordelia sighed in a controlled and somewhat pompous fashion, "That girl is going to run herself ragged if she doesn't pace herself."

Arsenic scowled. "Let the bird brian do what she wants. If she collapses from exhaustion on the battlefield I won't lose a wink of sleep stepping over her corpse."

His elegant compatriot shook her head, "As irritating as she can be, she is crucial to lord Bismuth's plan, so whether we like it or not we're stuck with her." She took a tiny sip from her teacup, "Then again at least she's better than Taurus."

Arsenic snorted and let out a small chuckle, "You got that right."

As quickly as she had left, Pascal rushed back into the meeting room, a scowl of rage and stress across her face.

"What's wrong?" Asked Cordelia inquisitively.

"Change of plans, we put the bulk of our forces at the front gates of the fort, we can not let the Sentinels inside the base nomatter what!"

* * *

"Why the hell are we attacking at night?" Whispered Fox angrily to his friends. "If we waited till morning we could be better rested and actually see."

Neon filled in behind him on their march through the nighttime forest. "Why does it matter to you? you can't see anyways?" She said snarkily.

Fox turned around to face her as if to stare her down, "Low blow little miss rave queen mchairball, maybe I'm just worried about us all fighting as blind as me, did our general actually forget that most of our enemies have night vision!?"

Neon considered this, being a faunus with enhanced vision in the dark made her sometimes forgot how much of a disadvantage it must be to not be a faunus in a situation like this.

Flynt scoffed, "Something tells me he isn't the most strategy minded person out there."

"Truer words have never been said" muttered a disgruntled Yatsuhashi who had been marching in silence the whole time.

Velvet, who was standing next to the four and listening in on their conversation, glanced around the area. They had been marching for nearly two hours and found themselves cutting through the southern edge of the forest that housed the White Fang base. According to their scouts they would reach it soon.

The rabbit looked worriedly at her girlfriend marching next to her in silence, "You ok Coco?"

She turned to look at her, the shadows of the night masking her face slightly, "Yeah, just a little tense. But don't worry, I've finally gotten some sleep and I'm combat ready." She gave her a forced smile in a vain attempt to break the ominous atmosphere of the march.

Not wanting to make her feel bad, Velvet returned a smile and pretend with the best of her ability that she was reassured, "Well, let's get this over with."

"Everyone, full stop!" Yelled Java who was several yards in front of them.

Within a few seconds all troops in the area stopped in their tracks awaiting orders, the atmosphere further tensing up.

"What's wrong?" Asked Vericks quizzically.

Java shushed her, "I think I hear something."

Everyone stood ready for combat. Naislain, who stood at the center of the group of soldiers alongside his honor guard, minus Ebony and Regulus who were mysteriously missing, motioned towards Alexiris, "Boy, give us some light."

He nodded and clutched his fists together to activate his semblance, creating a bright sun like glow from his forearms and shoulders.

Within seconds the sound of a braking tree branch was heard from nearby. "Get down!" Yelled Pale as he tackled the young prodigy to the ground, a bullet from a sniper rifle whizzed by immediately after.

All hell broke loose. White Fang grunts jumped down from the treetops all around them and began attacking from all angles with different forms of mismatched weaponry.

Coco ducked out of the way just in time as to not be decapitated by the chainsaw of a Lieutenant. She swung her hand bag around in an arc and knocked her opponent clean off his feet and quickly moved into piledriver on him. However he was just quick enough to leap back onto his feet. He moved into attack Coco once again but was stopped by a quick slash by Yatsuhashi which launched him back into a tree.

"Get up!" He yelled as he quickly pulled Coco to her feet.

After only a small amount of time the tranquil unease of the forest had erupted into a ballistic symphony of chaos as Sentinels and White Fang troops shot and hacked away at each other in a grizzly frenzy.

Alexiris and Pale were fighting back to back against a wave of grunts. The commander's movements were so fluid and fast that it barely looked like he was touching the troops that he disarmed and blasted back with a single hit. The young prodigy at his side put his semblance to work, creating quick, brilliant flashes of light from his aura coated body parts, blinding and disorienting his opponents and creating opening after opening. It was clear he had completely mastered his abilities even though he wasn't even in combat school yet. Truly his skills took after his older sister.

Team JAVA were standing as a bulwark in front of the general and were unleashing hell upon any foe unlucky enough to stand in their way. Coco's eyes locked with Velvet's, who was shambling to her feet after getting the wind knocked out of her.

The two nodded and without words spun around back to back, ready to fight. However the battle's tides were already beginning to change, the sniper from before shot another bullet into the crowd near the general, instantly killing a random soldier. The sniper launched outwards from her tree top hiding place and descended upon the general in a flurry of gunshots from twin pistols directly at him. Before the general could react, his adversary combined her two short range weapons into a high impact sniper rifle and aimed it point blank at his forehead.

"Checkmate!" She yelled as she pulled the trigger. The blast smashed into Naislain's face and sent the attacker rocketing backwards before she landed gracefully on her feet.

The small explosion from the gunshot gave pause to the fighters in the immediate vicinity including, JAVA, CFVY, SSSN, and FNKI.

"GENERAL!" Yelled Java, rage and worry betraying her cold demeanor.

The sniper smiled, "Well you went down easy, guess you were all talk and no..no…" Her face fell upon the clearing of the dust.

Naslain stood in the exact same place, uninjured and looking only mildly agitated, "Is that the best a member of the food chain can do? Well?"

The sniper gulped and shot off another round. It missed and the general pulled one of his massive Obsidian shot guns from his belt and fired. The sound the monster of a weapon made was defining and its recoil enough to tear the arm off of any man without an active aura.

The attacker rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being blown to oblivion as it's projectiles exploded with the force of a C4 mine. They weren't shotguns, they were grenade launches.

"You're quiet quick on your feet beast, but you have a brain? Do you honestly think such a meager attack would work?"

She scrambled to her feet and looked around wildly for an escape root, frustration and desperation clouding her eyes. She attempted to stall and play it cool, "You think this was my only trick? I'm not a idiotic meathead like you Naislain the Butcher!"

The general smirked maniacally, "If I had a nickle for every time someone called me by that meaningless name my army wouldn't have to worry about funding."

He unlatched his second shotgun-grenade launcher from his belt, prompting his attacker to tense up. "But an idiot, ha, now that stings! I've actually put a lot of effort into this plan and you insulting it hurts my feelings!" He said facetiously.

"Now tell me girl-"

He pointed his weapon high into the sky "Have you ever heard of the term, 'Scorched Earth Tactics?'"

The general let off a round as if signalling something. For a moment everything was silent, the the smell of smoke began to suffocate the air around them.

Pascal turned to face the source of the smoke behind her and was horrified, "You son of a bitch" she whispered.

Coco and Velvets' hearts sank the second they saw what was happening. In an instant a large swath of the forest a few hundred yards away from them had erupted into a massive inferno that quickly began engulfing everything around it.

Nailsain laughed, clearly enjoying himself, "Better scurry back to your little stone hovel beast! Unless you want the flames to engulf it before the battle is through.

Pascal bit her lip in fury, they would have to call off their main attack and retreat to base before the flames surrounded them or worse, burnt the place down. "You'll pay for this Butcher! You'll pay!" She wailed, shooting off a flare into the sky before dashing off into the trees.

Sun charged towards the general in a fury with such force that his teammates couldn't hope to hold him back.

"YOU BASTARD!" There is a village just beyond the southeast side of the forest! If we don't stop that fire right now the whole place will be reduced to ash!"

Naislian aimed his weapon at the boy's face, "Utter one more word from your filthy mouth and you'll become a casualty of war just like every maggot that has been cast aside in our righteous name!"

Sun froze for a brief second but the fire in his eyes betrayed him. He didn't care what happened, he needed to stop this madman now.

Pale jumped in just in time to save him, "We can do both! We can wipe out these cretins quickly and still have time to evacuate the village! We must not lose heart now my comrades! Remember we are the heroes here! We are the-"

The prideful man was left at a loss for words when Sun turned his gaze to him, pure, unadulterated, hatred and spite tearing into him from his furious glare. The faunus leaned into the blonde warrior's face, "You're no hero." He said emotionlessly.

He spun around and charged off towards the growing flames in the distance.

"Sun wait!" Yelled Neptune in dismay. He glanced at his team, then teams CFVY and FNKI worriedly, "I'm going after him, you guys just put an end to this quick!"

The blue haired boy sprinted off towards his best friend with his two other teammates tailing quickly behind him.

Naislian scowled harshly. "Forget them, we charge on the fort now while their defense is in shreds. Tonight we claim total victory!"

Him, JAVA, and the surrounding soldiers all let out a loud cheer as they charged forward towards the enemy base. Alexiris grabbed a dazed Pale by the arm and quickly dragged him forward, a look of disgust on both of their faces.

Coco turned to Velvet, who looked utterly horrified, "What do you want to do?" She asked hurriedly.

Velvet gulped, "I-I need to go with Sun, That poor village needs our help!"

FNKI all nodded their heads in unison, "We're going too, you're going to need all the help you can get!" Yelled Flynt.

"Coco!" Yelled Java, who was hanging back from the rest of her team.

"You're falling behind! Get over here quick!"

Coco hesitated, Not wanting to defy her sister directly.

Velvet pushed her forward, "Go ahead and help them win, we'll take care of things here."

Coco looked over her shoulder with worry, "You can't seriously expect me to leave right?"

Fox and Yatsu nodded at her reassuringly, "We'll keep your little sweetheart safe. You just focus on kicking those terrorist's teeth in and making sure your sister doesn't have a break down." Said Fox cockily.

Coco sighed, "All right, I'm trusting you, and Velvs…..be safe."

Velvet nodded, "You betcha."

And with that the team split up and Coco rushed towards her sister's side, ready to get this horrid night over with. But little did she know, the worst was yet to come.

* * *

The fire had already spread through most of the southern forest, sounds of roaring flames and gunshots burst forth from all direction.

CFVY and FNKI were already in the thick of the chaos desperately trying to catch up to team SSSN and beat the inferno to the village.

"Look out!" Yelled Yatsu as he tackled Velvet and Team FNKI's Slender to the side just as a large oak tree gave way under the intense flames.

"Are you guys alright?" Asked Neon in a panic.

"Yeah, we're ok" moaned Slender as he picked himself up and quickly dusted off his folded up guitar.

The flames continued to spread around the fallen tree and soon a wall of fire divided the group, "You guys keep running! We'll go around and meet you on the other side!" Commanded Velvet.

Fox scowled, "Fine, just don't get yourself killed. I am not going to be the one to tell Coco you got cooked medium well!"

"Stay with them Slend, and don't fall behind!" Yelled Flynt in a worried voice.

"Just my luck" the gloomy boy muttered in a melancholy tone.

And just like that their party was split in two and the three unlucky deviants began charging back through the flames in an attempt to go around the wall of flames that had now spread farther than their stinging eyes could see. The sounds of dying allies and enemies roared against the flames in increasing volumes until they all mixed into a morbid soup of misery.

" _It won't be long now till the grimm overrun the forest, this is going from bad to worse really fast! "_ Thought Velvet, struggling to stay positive.

As they ran an exceptionally loud scream was heard nearby, stopping the three in their tracks.

"CRDL!" Screamed Velvet as she ran over to the bleeding corpses on the barren ash covered ground.

Dove, Sky, and Russel were already dead with large caches across their abdomens. Cardin was lying several feet from the rest of his team and was bleeding out fast.

"Cardin! Here let me put something on that wound to stop the bleeding." Said Velvet.

The dying leader took one look at her and cowered back in fear, "Stay away you fucking animal!" He screamed delusionally.

Velvet leaned closer, "I'm trying to help, please don't struggle!"

"No, monster, monster, mon-" he was unable to finish his last words as the form of a faunus leapt down from the trees and sliced open his neck.

The man looked up at Velvet's horrified face with his own crazed and blood covered grin. "Well hey there little rabbit, or would sheep be more appropriate?"

He jumped forward to attack her but was knocked to the side by a fast reacting Yatsu, "Stay away from my friend!" He yelled as he slammed the but of his blade into the attacker's skull, sending yet another adversary careening into a nearby tree.

Velve sprung to her feet, ready to fight, even the lazy looking Slender ran forward to their side, his guitar have already transformed into a long katana, and his harmonica now a sleek magnum pistol.

Their enemy laughed psychotically as he quickly recovered from his attack and scurried up the side of the tree, planting claws from his feet in a high sturdy branch so he could stand upside down and gaze eyes to eye with his prey. His hair and clothing hanging suspended in the air giving him an even more unstable look.

"Well would you look at this, more prey for my gullet. My last few opponents were barely worth bloodying my claws, let alone eating." He licked his lips manically, "But now you grace me with a delectable three course meal, I'll devour you all nice and quick then get back to the base for the main course! So hello there my fine adversaries, my name is Arsenic Hide the Cannibal! Rank Four on the White Fang's dreaded Food Chain!"

* * *

Neon ran as fast as her legs could carry her, skipping over fallen bodies and branches alike she and her three remaining companions raced forth towards the edge of the hellscape.

"Look, there is the end, right over there!" Bellowed Kombu as he pointed towards a dark and flameless area up ahead.

"Come on just a little more, hurry up you annoying little hair ball!" Screamed Fox as he grabbed the lagging Neon's arm and pulled her with him exceptional force.

Within a few seconds the group burst out of the flaming rove and collapse on the rocky ground in a heap of exhaustion.

"Wait this isn't the end" said Flynt between tired gasps.

The four of them looked up to see that they had merely reached a small circular bed of rocks and depressions that stood as a flame retardant bastian from the inferno surrounding it.

Fox picked up a handful of dirt from the ground and licked it, "Ew!" said Neon with disgust.

"Oh grow up hairball."

"Stop calling me that!"

Fox threw the dirt to the side, "There is dust residue in the soil, this must be what's left of the quarry sight from a decades ago. It's existence is what prompted the Schnee dust Corp. to build that old base around here, it running dry is what also made them abandon it."

A pristine and collected voice rang out from somewhere nearby, "And that's when we found it and put it to good use. Taking things nobody wants and putting them to good use, that's what we faunus excel at is it not?"

The four took their battle stances and drew their weapons. Kombu's bongos broke in two and folded around his fists into lightweight, yet incredibly sturdy, metal and wood boxing gloves.

He smashed them together and scowled, "Who goes there!" He yelled out.

The voice laughed, "So rude and unprofessional, I'd swallow it and politely shrug it off coming from an alley like Pascal or Adam but from an enemy? That is a disrespect not to be taken lightly."

From behind a nearby boulder a beautiful woman with the horns of a ram spiralling out from the crown of her head game strutting out into the open. In one hand she lazily spun around a finely glazed teacup by its handle around her pinky finger, in the other she gripped the hilt of a long spiral spear which's head dragged ominously on the ground behind her. Her unamused and calculated expression bore into her adversaries. She meticulously broke down every detail of their physique in her mind with lighting speed, imagining every conceivable way of felling them. As fast as she could think, she made sure to take her time to decide a method of murder that would strike the perfect balance of elegance, efficiency, creativity, and above all, cruelty.

"I really should be getting back to base to give good ol Naislain a piece of my mind but I can't just leave disrespectful little ingrates like you without dealing out some harsh discipline."

She threw her spear up into the air and caught it on its decent. Resting it on her shoulder ran her hand through her hair to keep any stray fibers out of her face. "I haven't gotten the chance to take part in a decent scrap for quite some time. Now come at me if you so dare ape."

She gave him a twisted yet poised smile, "Let's see if rank three of the White Fang Food Chain, Cordelia Leblanc, the Eviscerator can teach you some sorely needed manners!"

 **Next time on RWBY The Path We Walk: Volume 5, chapter 12: War Never Changes**

 **A/N: I can't** **believe** **it has been almost a year since I first posted this story. Leave a review if you've been enjoying it, also leave a review if you'd like to express any** **grievances** **.**


	30. Chapter 26: Monsters

**A/N: Here we are, chapter 26: Monsters (renamed it because I felt it fit better). This chapter...this chapter is something special to me. This chapter, along with Wayward Son, are the two chapters that really made me want to write this story. This idea has been brewing for a long, long, long time and it's exciting for me to finally see it come to fruition. Please tell me how you feel about this chapter. Did you like it? Did you not? Please leave a review!**

 **Chapter 26: Monsters**

The Sentinel army fell on the off balance White Fang army like a butcher's cleaver on fresh meat. One after another the enemy troops were felled, its four leaders all scattered somewhere in the burning forest nearby left them with virtually no chain of command and no organized resistance.

Team JAVA, lead by Naislain himself, carved a path straight through the heart of the disillusioned horde. Coco, along with Alexiris and Pale, trailed at the back, taking down any surviving soldiers still zealous enough to continue their charge.

With every death Coco cringed, Just block it out Coco, it will all be over soon. These are the bad guys, don't feel sorry for them...But...still...this is hardly even a battle anymore. She thought with a heavy heart. The grim looks on many of her companions' faces proved that her opinion was echoed in many of their minds.

She looked towards the front of their envoy, Team JAVA continued onward in their signature veracity that they were infamous for during their days in training. The normally tiny girl Alice was now a hulking mass of inhumane muscle due to her semblance, Muscle Burst, and was currently tossing White Fang troops around like rag dolls, all the while enjoying it more than any moral person had any right to.

Fuschia fought with unorthodoxed poise and precision as they seemingly mimicked every move their opponents made with mind boggling accuracy before abusing openings in their form, killing them instantly with an efficient swipe of one of their countless hidden blades. They didn't appear to be enjoying the battle with the indulgence of their partner, but then again their blank expression never did seem to change.

Verricks held an uncharacteristically dark stone face, zero emotions escaped their disposition as they blasted through enemy ranks. Her twin spears twirled with speed and elegance that Coco's dorky friend Neptune couldn't hope to achieve even with his singular version of the weapon. Far more incredible however was the scope of her Semblance.

The might of Angel's Wrath was unmatched. The ghostly jade form of an angelic familiar materialized around her body like a massive suit of divine armor. The monster had the body of a muscular woman with a head of a porcelain doll. Her multiple lanky arms each held ethereal projections of long, sharp spears that annihilated any who came near.

As if to test this statement, a stolen Atlesian Paladin burst forth from the trees ready to fight. Verricks rolled her eyes at the new challenger's provocation and simply motioned her looming monstrosity to attack. The godlike projection through an energy javelin with the force of a catapult and sliced the machine's arm off like a warm knife through butter.

"Java you want to do the honors?" She said absently, already moving on to the next fight.

Java shrugged and extended her own weapon. The super massive high tech bag she had been using as a melee weapon up until now attached to her back and unfolded onto her shoulders, extending down across the front and backs of both arms until they were each encased by an individual mini-gun not unlike Coco's.

She looked over at the helpless mech with disgust, "So you think your filthy hands are worthy of Atlesian technology? Don't make me puke." She unloaded a whole clip of bullets onto the soldier. The unholy screams he made as his body was torn to shreds chilled Coco to the bone.

"There it is, straight ahead!" Yelled Naislain as he casually shot the head off of a White Fang grunt with his shotgun, not even bothering to look at his corpse.

Uphead was the front gate to the White Fang outpost. All they had to do was take it and this awful nightmare of a night could be over.

"Alice, Fuchsia, you to stay behind with Pale, Alexirius, and the rest. Coco, Verricks, you two come with me and the general to secure the compound." Commanded Java.

Her sister and teammate both nodded and the four skilled warriors broke off from the main group. The meager defenses that remained at the gate fell with barely a fight, all dying from a single explosion from one of the general's grenades.

Naislain punched the open gates button on the outside panel that was blasted ajar during the fighting, "As soon as these doors open I want you three to fire everything you've got into the main room. Don't stop until I say otherwise."

The large door began to slowly grind its way up, revealing a shadow of what was inside.

Here we go, last push, then it will all be over.

"Fire!"

And like good little soldiers they did as they were told.

The fires of the blazing inferno raged on as Velvet, Yatsuhashi, and Slender stared down the psychotic commander of the White Fang. Arsenic carefully analyzed all three of his opponents, sizing them up, guessing at their weaknesses. His face cracked into a smile before leaping from his branch.

Despite his cowardly appearance, Slender was the first to meet his attack with a quick swipe of his katana followed by a shot from his pistol that Arsenic just narrowly managed to block with his right claw.

"Take this you little wretch!" Yelled Yatsuhashi against the raging fires as he slammed his blade into the ground right in front of him. His semblance burst forth into the ground and ripped a massive gash into the area, consuming several trees and shaking Arsenic to the point where he almost fell into the manmade ravine.

"Woah, that's quite the kick you've got there!" He said with a jovial sing song tone, he was clearly enjoying himself. He moved his right hand upward as if to throw something. Velvet's instincts reacted and she bolted towards him and foot sweeps him off his balance just in time. The object he was about to throw, the bullet from Slender that he somehow caught, flew off course and drilled into the ground, churning up dirt with the force of a torpedo.

Arsenic scowled and grabbed Velvet by the arm and flung her violently over his shoulder and tossed her head first into a nearby tree. Velvet's aura took a large blow that seeped through her aura. Leaving her dazed.

"So the sheeple rabbit has some fangs, a shame they aren't very sharp." He mocked.

Slend and Yatsu both rushed towards him from both sides in a scizor attack. Hide quickly dropped into a low stance and moved his claws out to his sides to block the two strikes. He cringed under the combined pressure and his aura visibly drained by a level. However the pain only seemed to make him more ravenous and erratic.

His claws flared up with the colors of a rainbow and the energy flowing forth, launching the two back several feet.

"What the hell?" Asked yatsu in confusion at what he was seeing.

Velvet staggered to her feet and looked up at him. Arsenic had naturally flowed into a pseudo-crane stance, his claws in front of him now alight with a glowing mosaic of intricately designed brands made of every shade of dust in the book. The smoky grey tinge of the air and the blistering blood flames danced in unison with their ominous beauty around the black shadow that cloaked Arsenic's unhinged smile and beady eyes.

Without a moment's hesitation Velvet materialized a holographic version of Flynt's trumpet and used it on him. Not expecting such an unconventional attack, the predator was knocked backwards, allowing for Yatsu to capitalize and go in for another strike. Arsenic twirled around in one fluid motion and unleashed a furious whirlwind of multi-elemental attacks. The small gouges each swipe left on Yatsu's sword left lasting damages of sparking flames, crackling electricity, and deep rooted ice.

The clashing forces of nature mixed and intensified the damage till eventually his massive broadsword was torn from his hands. Arsenic chuckled and dove forward for the kill.

Velvet gasped in horror as he skirted past her friend and heard a sickening splice. Thanks to some newfound devil's luck, Yatsu managed to twist his body to the side just in time to only get a glancing blow. However the slash from dust engraved claws burnt, froze, and shocked the wound all at the same time. It cauterized the wound but the shock immediately knocked him unconscious.

"Good, relax, too much adrenaline can ruin the meat." He cackled.

He cocked his head to the side and stared down a panicking Velvet with psychotic glee, "Now where was-"

Before he could finish, the shadows underneath him swarmed and morphed into a giant spectral hand that gripped and yanked Arsenic into the air with great force.

The predator looked around wildly in shock and frustration till his eyes rested upon Slender, one of the scrawny boy's arms held up in a fist and pulsating with aura.

"How do you like my semblance? I don't use my 'Devil's arm' very often, but I guess I can make an exception for a monster like you." He said with the closest thing to anger his lazy monotone voice could muster.

Arsenic responded with nothing more than an unintelligible snarl as he began struggling violently against the phantom arm's grip. His multi-colored claws slashed fiercely through its form, causing constant tears and gaps to form before Slend quickly sealed them.

The sickly looking boy began to sweat and gave Velvet a pleading look, "Well don't just stand there. Hit him with everything you've got!"

Velvet headed his words and leapt to her feet, taking a deep breath, she flared her semblance to life once more and materialized her greatest trump card, the spare picture she had saved of the now decided Penny Polendina's incredible laser cannon. The robot girl's long thin blades materialized in a ghostly phantasm and began circling around with lightning speed, building energy in a bright blue ball, ready to fire. With the force of a thousand cannons the laser blasted forward towards its suspended target.

For a split second Velvet allowed herself the relief of victory, however such a false hope was dashed as soon as she saw a brilliant shine come from Arsenic's body. Somehow, someway, he was splitting the destructive beam straight down the middle with his claws stretched outwards in a swimmer pose. The orange and red glow from his aura clashed with the bright blue and deep black of his opponents as their energy mixed and went haywire, resulting in the sound of shattering glass and and large explosion that sent both Slender and Velvet toppling to the ground, weak from depleted aura.

Arsenic fell down onto one knee and gasped for breath. "Heh, That was…(gasp)...quite the hunt...haven't fought like that…(gasp)..in awhile."

He stood up and re-extended his claws, not a single one even remotely damaged from the clash. "But I got to go rejoin the rest of the pack now, so I guess I better take a snack for the go." He glared at the weakened Velvet and licked his lips hungrily.

Velvet felt an ice cold chill run down her spine despite the searing heat. Unable to fight back she resorted to inching backward in a vain attempt to buy her more time in a vain hope either Coco or Fox would come to save her. Arsenic simply smiled in eger satisfaction as he slowly strolled towards her, letting his dust gilded claws absently wave in front of his face, shimmering in the pale moonlight like the appendages of a monster from a horror movie.

All of a sudden a massive explosion of gun fire roared through the suffocating atmosphere from near the base followed by a crooked symphony of blood curdling screams. As Arsenic's head snapped in the direction of the base, his face contorting into that of one of anger.

"Shit, that can only be a fucking catastrophe." He retracted his claws and scowled in disgust but quickly returned to smiling when he saw the look of confusion on the rabbit's face.

He chuckled, "So this is what Cord meant when she says this world is filled with ironic twists. I wonder little sheep rabbit, I wonder if I'm the worst monster you'll encounter tonight. I think I'll wait and see for myself."

With that cryptic yet distinctly non beastly delivered premonition, the predator bolted through the burning tree line towards his base, leaving his meal behind.

Despite her threat, Cordelia remained still and poised in a stable battle stance and showed no sign of attacking first.

Flynt stared her down, "I don't know guys, this looks rotten, lets get out of here."

Kombu laughed, "Scared of a girl are ya Flynt? Compared to you and me she's nothing but a twig. Hell even Neon looks like she could beat her in a wrestling match."

Neon gave the ape a weird stare, "Thanks I geuss?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes but otherwise remained still, carefully analyzing the mannerisms of her opponents, her eyes coming to rest on Fox. She immediately deduced that from his battle stance he was not only quick on his feet but blind as well. Despite this, he was clearly the strongest fighter of the three.

Kombu pounded his fists on the hard stone ground to pump himself up, "It's on!" He yelled as he bounded and leapt towards his dainty looking adversary.

With lightning speed Cordelia sprinted forward, trailing the tip of er spear along the ground as if it were a greatsword. As her heavyweight opponent drew within a few feet of her she ducked and whirled around in place, using the momentum of her spear she flung dirt and gravel into the bulky meat head's eyes. The stinging debris caused him to topple over onto the ground.

Cordelia backflipped and stuck a landing on top of the back of her downed foe like a gymnast. With the heels of her shoes digging into his back she launched herself forward without hesitation towards Fox.

Just as she suspected his other senses pulled double duty and he managed to completely dodge her strike. She smiled, "Well, it looks like Naislain's army isn't just filled with mindless brutes. Interesting to say the least."

Neon deployed her roller skates from her boots and quickly attempted to roundhouse kick Cordelia in the face only to be met with a block from her weapon's hilt and a fast jab to the gut topped off with an incredibly elegant and far more effective roundhouse kick in response.

Fox spun around in a slashing motion with his elbow blades which ended up hitting nothing but air as Cordelia dodged effortlessly and close lined Flynt, toppling him to the ground.

The Commander returned her attention to Fox and the two's weapons clashed together in a struggle for dominance. Sweat from the fire's heat and the stress of battle poured down their face, yet Cordelia's appearance managed to remain as composed and lady like as ever.

"Your friends seem like they'd be more at home in a garage with bad acoustics than on the battlefield against terrorists." She said chatizingly.

Fox shrugged while still maintaining his ground, "If I had a nickle for every time I tried to tell them that I'd-"

On instinct Fox jumped backwards to avoid a foot sweep from his adversary and retaliated with slash downwards that narrowly missed her head.

"Quite impressive for someone who sees the world in nothing but vague shadows."

Fox scoffed and pointed at his left earlobe.

"Ah , I get it. You're hearing is enhanced due to your missing sense. How quaint."

"Ok, I'm at least seventy percent sure that was an insult." Fox responded with the slightest bit of annoyance in his voice.

Fox glanced over his shoulder to see Flynt winking at him as he rose to his feet and got ready to use his sonic trumpet. He smiled, "So I think it's YOU who should learn a thing or two about manners." Fox plugged his ears.

Cordelia spun around just in time to receive a sonic music blast to the face. She stabbed her spear into the ground to keep balance and closed her eyes tight to avoid getting blinded by debris. Neither of these strategies however did any good in keeping the attack from turning her hair into a ragged, dirt covered mess.

"MY EARS!" Screamed Kombu as he fell to the ground, clutching his head in agony.

"IT HURTS!" Wailed Neon, tears in her eyes as she did the same.

Flynt panicked and stopped mid attack, "What's wrong guys, you've heard that a million-"

"Watch out!" Yelled Fox, but it was too late.

Cordelia vaulted forward and slammed her spear straight into Flynt's abdomen. An attack that would have easily been fatal if it weren't for his now majorly depleted aura. The strike sent him hurtling into the uneven terrain. Fox winced at the painful sight, but the fallout of this attack is what really surprised and disturbed him.

Flynt curled into a fetal position on the spot, his face tight with pain as he let out agonized groans. "R-Rocks, Like KNIVES! GAH!" he screamed. His two teammates remained dazed and confused as they continued to clutch their throbbing ears.

"What the hell is going on!?" Yelled Fox, a hint of fear in his normally nonchalant voice.

As if his own soul was trembling his aura itself seemed to be hyperventilating, burning, the heat of the flames seemed to intensify and his sweat seemed to weigh him down far more than it should have. Worst of all it felt as if a thousand tiny needles were poking and prodding him all over his body, primarily on his feet, wait, was it the gravel beneath him?

"Ok, this has been equal parts boring and infuriating!" Cordelia turned to Fox, a hateful scowl across her face. She pushed back her frayed hair until only a single strand fell in front of her face. Her normally analytical and stoic eyes were replaced with barely restrained anger and revealed a crack in her prim and proper facade and showed a glimpse at her true self.

"So I think i'm going to wrap this up." She clenched her free hand into a fist, Fox's aura flared in pain, the discomfort in his feet from the ground erupted into full on torture.

"That's it!" Thought Fox, a light bulb switching on in his head. Without a moment's hesitation he threw on his semblance.

Cordelia sprinted forward a grin of pure sadism on her face as she swept her spear head in a arc as if to slice Fox in half horizontally.

He quickly held up his right hand and blocked the attack. Both combatant went completely still. The ringing in Kombu and Neon's head began to subside and the clued into what was happening in the fight.

Cordelia's smile began to vanish, "W-what? Why aren't you on the ground writhing in agony! Why aren't you on your knees begging for-"

Fox smirked and punched her square in the jaw. The hit sent her off balance allowing for him to follow up with a quick combo of blade strikes and a kick to the abdomen, sending him crashing into the ground.

"Now I'm no expert but I'm assuming that beating up a lady like you would be the epitome of bad manners."

Cordelia staggered to her feet, a hateful and murderous look in her increasingly unhinged eyes.

Fox's smirk widened, "But you're not a lady are you? You're just a cruel, sadistic, and above all, a batshit insane murderer that wants everyone to think you're a tranquil little princess. But in the end you're just a sick animal."

He glanced at Neon and Kombu, "No offense to the faunus in the burning forest."

Cordelia grit her teeth, "How, how did you stop my attack!?"

Fox wagged his finger condescendingly, "Now, now, speaking out of turn is bad manners. But in short I pieced together your semblance. I don't know what you call it, but I believe Torture would be a fitting title."

Neon looked confused, "T-torture?"

Fox waved her off, "Now settle down class, the teacher is talking. Little miss Eviscerator's semblance is quite the nasty piece of work that allows her to screw with the senses of her opponents. All she has to do is have her aura make physical contact with her opponent's and she can manipulate their sensitivity at will."

He pointed at Flynt's trumpet, "After hitting Kombu and Neon you heightened their senses of hearing and let Flynt's trumpet take them out. The you heightened Flynt's sense of touch and through him into the rocky ground, something that probably felt like belly flopping on a bed of nails, right buddy?"

Flynt managed a weak thumbs up.

"You tried to do the same to me, but I had lady luck on my side."

Cordelia blinked confusedly, "Luck?"

Fox laughed, "I was lucky enough to have the perfect counter semblance. My semblance is Void Sense. Aside from the obvious exception of sight, I can heighten or dull my own senses at will. So I guess that means we cancel eachother out."

He lobbed a punch at the Eviscerator's face, prompting her to dodge backwards. He followed up with another punch and a quick spin kick and ended with a downward double blade slice. She managed to dodge them all one after the other but was quickly losing ground and nearly forced against the wall of a large boulder.

Knowing she needed to go on the offensive she swiped rapidly with her spear in a multitude of directions nearly decapitating him several times but he was always quicker. "Kinda sloppy for a commander. I guess having such an unfair power means that you don't actually have to be all that great with your spear after allo am I-OH CHRIST!" Fox yelled as he narrowly dodged a clever feint and stab.

Cordelia quickly followed up with a spiraling flurry that forced Fox to give up several feet of ground. "You were saying?" She said to him in a chastising tone, her composure reforming and her sloppy offense returning to it's poised and calculating form.

"I'll admit you caught me off guard, but you shouldn't underestimate the skill of the third best warrior in all the White Fang. So prepare yourself ignorant boy!"

She lunged forward with grace and knocked Fox backwards after he barely managed to guard.

She leaped into the air and descended with a powerful arching attack that would have made a direct hit if it wasn't for Neon. Having fully recovered from her shell-shock, the faunus sped by on her roller skates and deflected Cordelia's attack with a hit of her dust charged nunchucks.

Cordelia stumbled backwards, her spear's grip and hand encased in ice.

"Don't forget about your other opponents, i've still got a bone to pick with you!" She goaded.

Fox glared at her, "Stay back, her semblance still affects you!"

Their adversary balled her other hand into a fist and Neon began to physically cringe in pain. Seat meeding down every inch of her body, "S-so, so hot." She grit her teeth and ignored the pain as she dashed forward.

Her actions surprised Cordelia and she failed to guard in time and got hit directly in her face. She kick Neon in the back in frustration sending her toppling to the ground, her sensitive aura flaring up and making her scream out in agony.

This act pulled the last straw in Fox's mind and he rushed forward with reckless abandon and hit Cordelia square in the stomach and sent her flying backwards into the ravel, shattering the ice around her weapon on impact.

Instead of following up his attack, as he probably should have, he rushed to Neon's aid, "Are you ok...scratch that, stupid question."

Neon groaned in discomfort but managed a strained smile, "Ah, is Foxy worried about little old hairball how swe-ow that stings!" She winned, clutching the back right side of her abdomen where Cordelia's attack hit.

The Eviscerator climbed to her feet ready for round three, but just as she was about to move in a massive explosion rang out from the other side of the forest. She looked towards its origin and scowled deeply, "As much as i'd love to continue to play in the dirt with you lowlifes I have to be going now. In that case a bid you adieu and see you all in hell."

She spun in a circle dragging her spear along the ground creating a cloak of dust to hide her escape back into the forest.

"What are you waiting for? Go after her-ow!" Said Neon.

Fox turned his head around towards the looming fires standing between them and the village they had set out to save. We can't get thru, We've failed. I'm sorry Sun. He shook his head bitterly and returned his vision to the new plume of smoke and screams bellowing up from the direction of the main base.

"I wouldn't catch up, besides I can't leave you here, I'm not that much of an asshole."

Neon sighed. "I guess you aren't are you, well anyways it seems Flynt and Kombu are getting back of on their feet, let's get going." She said, rolling her eyes at her two male friends as they slowly rose to their dizzied feet, not sure which felt worse, the wounds to their bodies or the wounds to their pride.

Fox nodded, "Good, now sling your hand over my shoulder so I can support you while you walk, hairball."

"I thought I told you to never call me that."

"What's that I can't hear you?"

"You turned off your hearing didn't you?"

"Ah silence, nature's greatest gift."

Sun bounded through the burning bramble of the dying forest straight towards the doomed village. Monster, Monster, Monster, Monsters!

Over the sizzling roar of the flames Sun could still hear the scathing words of the faunus mother and refugee days and weeks before. Complacent traitor to your kind!

Sun felt a hot tear roll down his cheek from his smoke burned eyes.

Have to get there, have to save them, someone, anyone, just one person. Then going through this hell would all be worth it.

Traitor.

Then I can face the others with my head held high.

Traitor.

Held High. Like a trained dog.

Traitor.

I'm not a-

Traitor.

a-

Traitor.

I'm a-

Traitor.

Sun burst through the undergrowth and into a relatively large clearing. Now where do I go? Before he could fully process his surroundings he felt a quick yet extremely painful blast to his lower abdomen. He had been shot.

"GAHH, SON OF A-" He yelled in pain as he fell to his knees. He had been so focused on running that he had neglected to keep his aura at anything other than a passive thin shield that barley offered him any protection against the dust projectile.

His attacker stumbled out from the bushes nearby. It was a Sentinel, soldier, wounded and scarred out of his wits. He spotted Sun on the ground and notched his gun. Shit he thinks I'm White Fang! Sun thought, he tried to tell him the truth but the pain from his wound kept him from making any intelligible words. Killed by friendly fire from a random soldier scarred out of his wits. Man Sun you REALLY picked out a heroic death didn't you?"

Just as the monkey boy thought it was all said and done the sound of another gun rang out from behind him and the soldier collapsed to the ground in a bleeding heap. Sun's head spun backwards instinctively and laid eyes on the one thing he had hoped against all odds he would never see.

His life long best friend and virtual brother, Kuro walked weakly from behind a nearby tree and wearing a white Fang uniform. He leaned heavily on his double sided sword-staff with a wound worse than his own on his right side, from the shimmering light around it, it seemed his aura was working overtime to fix it. And from the amount of blood it was clearly doing a C- job at best.

He gave Sun a half hearted smile, blood trickling down from his mouth, "Looks like I saved you bro, I guess after all these years we can call it-"his eyes closed and he fell to one knee.

"KURO!" Sun managed to yell despite the blistering pain o in his lower stomach. He struggled towards his family, his only family, and supported him before he fell over.

Kuro regained his sense of balance and resumed smiling, this time far more strained. "-Even, I guess we can call it even for you saving me from the streets when we were kids." He coughed up a blot of blood that landed squarely on Sun's shirt.

"Sorry, that killed the mood didn't it?" he remarked.

"What happened? Why are you here? Where is the rest of your team?" Sun asked frantically, although deep down he knew the answers to all these questions.

"The White Fang, they...they took us in Sun. When we had nothing left but oblivion...they gave us warm food and bread. Commander Crestwood, Pascal, she gave me strength when I had none." He chuckled meekly, "They may be a buncha filthy terrorists that don't deserve to live, but I guess they're my family now." He said, painfully snickering at the irony once again.

Sun wanted to slap some sense into him, to yell at him for yet another one of his half baked and hairbrained ideas that might've gotten him killed, no, that was getting him killed but he couldn't. Any witty retort or furious rant he could have said burnt away in the heat of the raging inferno.

"As for KMSN" he let out a saddened laugh that felt more like an unhinged croak. "We had a pretty good run." He said, the makings of a tear struggling down his face against the searing heat.

Gulping, Sun looked hesitantly to the other side of the clearing. The corpses of several soldiers, a whole team of huntsmen in training, and a low ranking huntsman lay scattered in a pool of blood. The boy's eyes began to water and his throat began to close up as his eyes landed on three bodies at the center of the pool.

Kaneki, Shiro, Mao. All of them.

Sun looked down at Kuro who was growing paler by the second. "I'll get you out of here, get you some medical help. I can meet up with the rest of my team and we can all get out of this hell hole together. My friends are heading to Vacuo to help end all this madness. We can help them...we...we can change this."

Kuro laughed in a borderline crazy manner, blood oozing out of his wound at a quickened pace. "You always had a-(cough)-a heart of gold didn't ya? Heh, you should know that'd get you killed in this fucked up world we live in. You think whatever stupid daydream you and your little beacon friends cooked up will fix everything? By the end everyone will just be holding hands and singing songs? NO!" He coughed, hacked, and wheezed uncontrollably.

"Face it, (wheeze), brother, (gasp), this is our world, the world of the faunus, the hunt, the battle for supremacy. If the world so desperately wants us to be their bogeymen, then-heh, who am I to do otherwise?"

Kuro slipped a small metal coin into Sun's hand, upon it was emblazoned the White Fang emblem. It was his badge of membership, proof that he was part of their hoard of hatred, that he was the beast mankind wanted him to be.

"I hated them so much" he whispered, getting weaker. "I hated them so much, Haven, will burn one day."

Sun looked down at him, horror in his expression, "Kuro-"

"Bismuth, the Food Chain, Damu, if the world condemns us to oblivion, they will hear us-hear us howling all the way there."

He raised his head weakly, the smile of Sun's life long friend, his life long brother in arms, the smile that brightened the darkest days during their childhood on the streets. That smile, that charming smile, was ripped apart in an instant.

He died instantly, the two bullets whizzed past Sun's face, one nailed him right in between the eyes, the other straight through his nose, crushing the feature. The force of both ripping his head clean off his body.

"Bullseye!" Yelped Carbuncle with a childish inflection as he jumped up and down. Congratulating himself with a few fist pumps.

Sun's whole body went numb, as if he were suddenly plunged into the depths of the ocean. Nothing seemed real, he just continued to stare at the corpse of his best friend, his brother, as blood poured forth, dyeing the dying grass a crimson red.

Traitor

Traitor

Traitor

Traitor

Traitor

Sun's white knuckles gripped his bow staff tightly, the pain from his wound disappearing completely. All he could sense was the chuckling laughter of the monster that killed Kuro.

Monster

Monster

Monster

Monster

"You can manipulate fire. You're the one who set this. You're the monster." He whispered in an eerily calm voice.

He stood up and turned towards his opponent, murderous intent in his eyes.

Carbuncle gave him a vaguely interested glare then smiled, "Heh,I'm guessing you aren't here to deliver a message are you monkey boy?"

Sun lowered himself into a battle stance, "No, I'd say I have a message."

Carbuncle chuckled, "This could be fun."

For a few moments the two stared each other down, hate coursing between them. Neither made a move, not until the sound of a large explosion was heard from the other side of the forest from the main compound.

"Now what the hell was that?" His opponent said, his focus shifting slightly to the new cloud of smoke.

Sun didn't look, he didn't care what else was happening, he just knew that he couldn't let him go free. He needed justice. Sun leapt forth, his weapon at the ready as he closed into strike Carbuncle. He prepared himself for a block or retaliation from the front, but what he didn't expect was the feeling of a dozen small bullets slamming into his side. Puncturing a hole in his concentration and sending him veering off course and into a pool of blood near several corpses left to rot and bake in the growing inferno.

"Commander Carbuncle, I suggest you return to the front lines to help Naslain finish off the main force." Said Ebony as she and Regulus stepped into the clearing, her partner holding out his left hand towards Sun, a small gun mounted from a compartment in his lean arm armour.

Carbuncle shot her an annoyed glare then proceeded to roll his eyes, "Fine, clean this mess up will you?"

The two bowed, "Of course sir."

The mad man grunted then took off dashing into the fiery wilderness.

The two Atleasian Sentinels stepped forward into the center of the clearing, not caring if they stepped on the hand of the bodies strewn around them. Both held an expression of pure professionalism, as if all the death they had dispensed that night was of approximately zero moral concern.

Sun scrambled to his feet and quickly charged at them in a blinding rage, "You bastards! You did all this! Burn in hell!" He screamed.

He went after Regulus first, unlatching his bo staff into his shot gun-chucks and proceeded to blast the militant youth square in the face. However the soldier simply dodged with little to no effort and with all the grace of a ballerina.

"How...animalistic" he commented as he backhanded Sun in the head, a blade extending from his right hand to make the hit extra painful.

Ebony flawlessly followed his lead, kneeing Sun in the forehead on his way down and kicking him in the stomach with an extended blade from her right foot.

Sun rolled on the bloodied ground yet again, his aura straining to block such decisive hits.

Ebony and Regulus lowered themselves into identical combat combat stances. The aforementioned extendable blades and guns extending from their appendages. Regulus with a blade on his right hand and left foot along with a gun on his left hand and right foot. Ebony sported symmetrical weaponry except with inverted placement.

"Sun Wukong, by orders of High General Naislain you are under arrest for conspiring with White Fang forces." Boomed Regulus in a distinctly business like tone.

Ebony gestured to the metal coin he still held in his hand and the still bleeding corpse of Kuro, "You will be immediately delivered to Atlas and executed publically for your treason against the Sentinel army and the world. An execution that will be carried out by Madam Raven herself!" She said, a slightly more commanding voice but still barely discernable from the tone of her partner's.

"Surrender, or we will be forced to crush you, to break every bone in your body if we must." She continued.

Sun spat at the ruby dirt beneath him.

The two gave each other a look of conformation. An ever so slight smile crept onto Regulus' face.

Sun wasn't sure what happened next, maybe the heat and his anger had caused him to hallucinate, maybe he was already starting to faint, or maybe his body simply chose an inopportune time to blink. Because within an instant the two hand vanished without a trace, only to materialize once again inches from his face.

"Every bone it is then." They said in the same partially bored tone as they hurled a twin punch to his face in unison, knocking Sun out in but an instant.

"We are royally fucked aren't we?" Muttered a winded Sage as he held up the back of the frantically running trio of screw ups as they dodged between combusting trees on the trail of their monkey tailed leader that had vanished into the flames up ahead some time ago.

"Yes, I believe that is quite accurate" said a worried Scarlet, his charming accent doing jack swat to bring levity to the situation.

Neptune scowled in response, something the ladies man made an effort to do as little as possible. Just push through, find Sun, and beat the shit out of him for being a reckless meathead as always.

A column of orange flames that was once a mighty oak tree collapsed thirty yards in front of them and erected a barrier of fire between them and their leader.

"Crap" spat Neptune through gritted teeth. He grabbed his flash of water from his backpack and activated his semblance, Hydrokinesis.

With a large arc of his arm he launched a blast of water that morphed instantaneously into a miniature storm cloud that smothered the inferno enough to create a large gap.

"Quickly, before it closes!" Neptune yelled moments before the three reach and leapt over the tree's carcass before the fire began to return to it.

Scarlet gave his blue haired friend a grin, "Well would you look at that, our little Neppy finally worked up the courage to use his semblance."

"Not now Scarlet!" Hissed Neptune between winded breaths.

Although he had to admit his teammates remark held some water, even though he discovered his power nearly three years ago he still had only worked up the courage to use it a few times since then. He had been unlucky enough to have designed his weapon with powerful electro shockers for melee before he learned his power involved the highly conductive liquid. His discovery of his innate super power had happened during a training mission and resulted in him being shocked to near death by his own equipment. Since then Neptune had developed a fear of his semblance, and by extension, a fear of water itself; even now he felt positively scared out of his wits after using it for such a brief period.

The three found themselves stumbling into one of the many small clearings that dotted the landscape of the inflamed forest.

"I don't see Sun anywhere, shit, he sure can run fast can't he?" Muttered Sage.

"Thats our leader for you" said Scalet, still trying to be cheerful despite the bleak circumstances.

"Wait, I heard something" Boomed Sage. All three stood still, weapons draw, ready to attack at even the slightest provocation. For a moment, everything was silent but except the endless roar of flames and distant gunshots.

"Get down!"

The team dropped just in time to avoid a sniper bullet that narrowly missed Scarlets head. Their attacker bolted from the darkness, talons extended and single exposed eye hungry for battle.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" The White Fang Commander yelled as she dived in for a decisive blow against the disoriented pirate.

Neptune reacted just in time and spun his spear in a circle to block her furious swipes. Sage quickly followed up and attempted to slam his massive great sword into her abdomen but failed to hit the nimble fighter as she backflipped out of his reach.

She landed gracefully on her feat and sneered at her opponents, "I'll say it one more time, out of my way peons! There is no way in hell I'm letting your bastard of a general anywhere near our compound. So if you value your lives you'd better step aside and let me be on my-"

Scarlet jumped to his feet and shot with his dustlock pistol. Her eye went wide as she reflexively slapped the projectile away with her talons. "You human never listen to reason, do you?" She spat disdainfully. "Well all right then, you were warned. Prepare to die at the talons of the fifth member of the White Fang Food Chain Pascal Crestwood, the Heartless Chimera!"

With a flick of both wrists as fast as lightning she holstered her twin pistols and sprayed bullets at her three targets. Through a combination of dodging and aura they escaped her volley unharmed but that wasn't her goal, she simply needed them to break ranks.

With the predatory instincts of a hawk she singled out the weakest of the team, ironically the muscular Sage, and moved into strike.

Expertly dodging his slow and clumsy blows she kicked him upside the head then attempted to gouge his eyes out with her razor sharp talons. Obviously not wanting to lose his eyesight in the most painful way imaginable, Sage panicked and channeled massive quantities of aura into his facial region to block her crippling attack.

As dumb as a fat squirrel it seems.

She pulled out of her offensive at the last second and went in for a double swipe on his stomach. Breaking through his unfocused aura and causing a large cut across his skin. Sage reeled in pain and fell to his knees.

As worthless an opponent as any. She thought arrogantly. As she spread her arms wide, ready to decapitate her prey.

Luckily before she could off him, his partner Scarlet managed to snag her left claw with the grappling hook attachment to his pistol and pulled her off balance.

Annoying little-

After springing free she was set upon by Neptune who spun a flurry of swift strikes with his glowing blue spear, each attack arcing blue sparks of energy towards Pascal.

Groaning in frustration, the predator was forced to shift gears into a more defensive set of tactics. She cartwheeled left and right, jumping over multiple attacks and going in for experimental swipes but making sure not to overstep her own defenses and letting the enemy into her guard. With electricity still jolting form his weapon she had to play a game of cat and mouse with him rather than outright blocking his attack with her dangerously short bodily weapon.

This guy is clearly a more well rounded fighter than his buddy, this might actually be fun. Too bad I can't let this go on any longer. I'm needed elsewhere.

Pascal spontaneously forgoed cautionary defense and went on a rapid offense. Not expecting such a sudden change in strategy, Neptune was quickly forced to give up ground on the retreat, allowing Pascal to grow even more bold with her ravenous barrage.

Scarlet, who was haphazardly attending to his large friend's wound, attempted to give the blue haired boy some supportive fire from the side lines to throw Pascal of balance.

A single bullet of his managed to graze her leg before she spun out of her physical offensive briefly. While in midair she once again un-holstered her pistol, this time however she latched them together to form her signature sniper rifle "Wings."

While any other soldier would be so disoriented in the air that their one and only goal would be to land on their feet without injury, Pascal was another beast entirely. Being part bird, with the sky above as her biological birthright, she never felt more alive when she was barreling through the air with her acrobatic stunts in the middle of battle. She effortlessly positioned her rifle perfectly and let out a powerful shot that disarmed Scarlet and nearly took off his hand in the process.

Neptune made the fatal mistake of letting down his guard for a brief second to see if his friend was alright.

It was fun while it lasted, but it's all over now.

She spiralled downward at inhuman speed and raised the but of her rifle as if it were an axehead ready to slaughter. Neptune frantically moved his spear to block but he was off balance allowing the pressure of his defense to disperse over the surface of his weapon, weakening its ability to defend and inevitably causing him to lose the power struggle.

Neptune fell down to the ground with a damaging crash as Pascal's meteoric attack sent him a whole foot and a half into the earth.

The hunter gripped his shirt with one talon while her other hand placed her rifle on her back.

The beaten huntsmen in training coughed up dirt that slipped own his throat.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, quick Neptune, think of something, anything!

Pascal lifted the dazed Neptune off his feet and held him up to her face, "Any last words human?"

Neptune coughed again, "Please, at least spare my friends."

Pascal scowled, "Funny, I doubt your general would be so merciful, it's only right that I'd be equally as ruthless."

Much to his horror as raised her other taloned hand, ready to kill, "So no, request denied."

Just as Neptune thought he was done for the sound of a massive explosion rang in the distance as a large plume of smoke began billowing from the White Fang Base.

"No" Pascal said weakley, a pale look of horror etched into her face. Her grip on Neptune's shirt loosened and he fell back to the ground, scurrying away immediately.

Before Pascal could regain her composure a metal brace shot out through the darkness and latched itself around Pascal's abdomen. She dropped him in shock and confusion as she slashed at her new restraint, only to receive a nasty surprise in return.

The brace let out a borderline deadly electric shock that spread through Pascal's entire body. The White Fang Commander shrieked in a high pitched squeal as she collapsed to the ground writhing in pain. The shock subsided leaving her barely conscious.

"I don't much enjoy you killing my underlings little birdy." Said Carbuncle as he sauntered out of the burning woodwork, his baton unlatched into a new form that was the origin of the electric brace.

Pascal squirmed and managed to press a button on her comlink with her fellow commanders, "Arsenic, Cordelia, I've been captured and the base has been take-GAHH!"

She recoiled from a second shock from the sadistic Carbuncle.

As it too subsided she felt her consciousness slipping away, "G-get, get the survivors….run….we...lost." She said before finally blacking out.

"What happened?" Asked Velvet frantically as she stormed up the ruined ramparts of the outer base.

All troops had either been killed or had retreated, the stench of death, ash, and blood weighed so heavily on the battlefield that in made the fragile bunny girl want to throw up. But she couldn't, not now, not when she didn't know if the love of her life was ok.

Yatsu had come to quickly and was being carried by Slend's semblance. The two told Velvet they'd be fine and that she needed to run ahead to find out what happened.

She burst out into the main road outside the outpost to find Pale and Alexirirs sitting gloomily on a dying stump. "Where is Coco!?" She asked, her voice cracking.

Pale looked away in shame. The depressed looking prodigy pointed weakly towards the ajared front gates. JAVA and the general stood at attention their.

Oh god no please don't tell me. She thought, her overactive imagination assuming the worst as always.

She rushed up the unkept steps to her destination, "Please tell me Coco's ok!" She said, not caring if Naislain got angry at her speaking out of turn.

The general gazed at her unthreatening, in fact, he looked as if he was in a disturbingly good mood, "Don't look so troubled rabbit. We've won, and your little friend is perfectly fine, just look." He gestured to the inside of the base.

"She's a hero, just look at all the traitors she helped us exterminate."

If there was ever a reason for Velvet to lose her lunch, it was the sight of this slaughter house. Bodies were strewn all across the floor of the complex in a massive heap of death and carnage, soldiers from their side rummaging through their belongings. The bodies were so mangled by bullets that they were barely recognizable. Severed limbs and crushed heads were excreting a messy soup of blood all over the damned place.

But sadly, the worst realization was only now hitting her; these weren't the bodies of soldiers, no, soldiers would be wearing masks, uniforms, carrying weapons. These pulpy masses of flesh were wearing rags, clutching food, trinkets, each other, particularly smaller ones, as if they were….children.

It was at that moment that Velvet projectile vomited all over the gory ground. This was what the White Fang were protecting here, these weren't terrorists hiding here, they were refugees.

Faunus refugees from the war, from the grim, from the Sentinels. From us she thought, further sickening herself.

She looked towards the center of the desolation. Coco stood like a statue in a small clearing surrounded by corpses and the smell of death. Her own bullet casings scattered on the red floor like flower petals.

"C-Coco?" Velvet said meekly as she slowly made her way to her partner.

The fashionista turned around, pale as a ghost and blood staining her face and clothes, "I-" Her legs gave out and Velvet was forced to catch her before she fell face first into the remains.

"I-I didn't mean to, I-I thought they were soldiers, I-I just did what I was told and shot as soon as the door opened. I didn't..I didn't.." HEr voice shook with such ferocity it sounded as if she were about to break into a thousand pieces

Velvet pulled her into a hug, "Please Coco, calm down,you didn't know. This isn't your fault please calm down.

Arsenic's voice rang through her head. Let's see if I'm the only monster you'll meet tonight.

Velvet's eyes scanned the grotesque scenery, her gut revolting as she passed the carcasses of the young man and elder that had begged them for aid mere days before.

"Take a good long look rabbit, this is the fate in store for those who stand in our way." Boomed Naislian in a satisfied voice. Team Java stood at his side, all stone faced and impossible to read.

Velvet returned her attention to the dead. Her gaze landed on a single tiny body that stared back at her with terrified eyes. Her heart sank deep and it took all her willpower to avoid crying.

"Coco whatever you do, don't look." She said flatly.

"W-what?"

"I said don't look" Her voice starting to fail her.

"What are you hiding from me?" Coco tried to squirm free from her lover's grasp.

"Please Coco I'm begging you don't look." Tears flowed freely from her eyes as her own grip on her emotions weakened, "Oh god Coco please don't look, I'm begging you, don't look!"

"I can handle it! Whatever it is I need to see, it, I don't have the right not to!" She boomed as she ripped herself free from her grasp and spun around to see the forbidden sight.

Lying nearby in the cold embrace of her mother's corpse was a little girl. A look of shock and horror stretched across her tiny face, frozen in time. A large hole from one of Coco's mini-gun bullets bore into her skull leaving a bloody mess that dripped down her small body onto the floor, onto...onto...

Onto her doll, the same homemade doll of a huntsmen the girl tried to give Coco mere weeks ago.

"No" She said flatly, unable to accept the gravity of what she had just done, the unforgivable robbery of such an innocent fragile life.

"No, please."

"Coco"

"NO GOD PLEASE NO!" She wailed in teary eyed denial.

She screamed. Screamed with an ear piercing wail of pain and sorrow that could wake the dead. But sadly that would never happen. The blood of a child and countless others was forever spilt on Coco's stained hands.


	31. Chapter 27: Welcome Home Old Friend

**Chapter 13: Welcome Home Old Friend**

Despite the towering flames the night was deathly cold. Villagers, mostly faunus who had refused to join the White Fang, ran, abandoning everything they held dear in a desperate scramble to escape the clutches of the dying forest fire.

Wild and raw emotions whipped through the chaotic pack in a frenzy as they fled. Confusion, sorrow, fear, hatred, panic, and countless others swirled and bubbled in a terrified mob. Most of all there was one emotion that loomed above the rest like a black cloud more omnipresent than the sheet of smoke that choked their lungs. This emotion was beyond primal, the emotion of origin from which all others spawned, either in succession to it, or in token defiance. This emotion was Despair.

The last stragglers of the now refugees broke out from the village perimeter as it's engulfment became complete. A glimmer of hope bread the makings of a smile across their ash covered faces. But Despair, ever suffocating in its work, buried its arch nemesis almost immediately.

As these last few poor souls found their way to the hill at the edge of town where all survivors had gathered they too stood helplessly looking out over the dark horizon. Death, Despair's favored companion met them with excited open arms in the form of a hoard of beast. Horrible, hungry, ravenous, and pure beast that eyed their next meal with gratitude.

The hoard, small in the grand scheme of things, easily dispersible to the indifferent amy far to the villager's back, marked the end of every story that stood helplessly on that mound of dirt. Oblivion and Hell the two paths laid bare before them.

Many fell to their knees and cried out in their Despair, adding to the caldron around them. This final push awakened the rage within the beasties. "All must feel my embrace, it is only right" Despair whispered to her children.

They howled in agreement and praise as they broek liens and surged forth to their meal like the front of a hurricane.

And thus the people of Tesifa vanished from this world. At least the moon was beautiful.

Come on Neo, you can do this. She said to herself for about the millionth time ever since the view of port Abana, the port where goods came to and from the southern end of the Vale-Vacuo border, began creeping over the horizon.

The humble harbor looked relatively quiet, natural due to the fallout of the Vytal Tragedy still sending shockwaves through crippled Vale, however it wasn't dead either.

"Confidence in trade safety must be picking up now that the Sentinels are calling the shots, let's be on guard." Said Ruby who seemed to have finally come to terms with what had happened, thanks in no small part to Merc's uncharacteristically kind words a few days ago.

I hope she isn't bottling up her emotions again, I don't think she can take another blow like that. Neo thought worriedly. She sighed after giving up this train of thought and resigning to the dread of her own problem, Abana was drawing closer and closer, and with it the village an hour beyond. Her home town that she left to rot in the Vacuan heat, Suerte, "Hamlet of the Lucky" as the orphanage's caretaker always called it.

Ren and Nora had kept contact with the other kids for a while and said most had found families or a place to live, so she guessed she should be happy, but that didn't lessen her anxiety one bit.

This is going to happen whether you like it or not so just get over it all ready.

"Land Ho!" Bellowed Yang Jovially, looking far more rested now that her little sister's crisis had mostly passed.

"Are you trying to draw attention to us?" Chastised Mercury.

"Well my looks would get us noticed anyways so I though why bother being sneaky?"

"You're going to get me killed soon aren't you."

"Oh dear someone edgy today."

Neo smirked, glad to see those two never change.

Within a few minutes the ship was docking and the salty smell of dead fish and sailors invaded their nostrils, "It's like we never left eh?" Said Nora as she slapped neo on the back, nearly knocking her over board.

Ren waltzed up next to them, "This port's been here so long I wouldn't be surprised if the stench of fish were engraved into the pier's wood. Now come on, Ciel, Weiss, and Jaune are going to get the docking forms in order. We're going to go get ourselves some lunch."

Blake scrambled out of the bunk room and began sniffing around madly, "Fish, I smell fish."

Weiss rolled her eyes while her other two teammates held in laughter.

Neo chuckled, embracing the levity, "We better get her something before she attackers the fishermen."

Nora nodded, "I bet that old tavern we used to go to every month is still open, let's go there."

"That's where you learned to cook, right Ren?" Asked Neo.

He nodded, "Chef Mung is a true culinary master. Blake's in for a treat with his tuna clam chowder."

Blake's ears perked up and mouth watered at the thought, prompting another round of laughter.

The gang of five plus Merc and Yang disembarked from their trusted vessel, and battled their sea legs all the way into the harbor center. Stalls and shops clustered at the back end of the docks, a sizable crowd of people from the multiple villages in the surrounding county mingled back and forth from store to store, enjoying the salty air and gliding across the boardwalk with a spring in their steps.

"There, that's the place" said Ren, pointing towards an old yet well kept dinner currently experiencing it's lunchtime rush of patrons.

"I wonder how the old man'll react to seeing you here again" said Nora.

The man dressed in green shrugged, "Probably swear me under the table and throw me behind the grill without so much as a hello."

Neo chuckled, "Welcome home I guess?"

Ren and Nora nodded to each other happily, "Yeah."

Blake shook her head, "Come on guys we should head in before the line gets long."

Yang smirked, "I swear you're a different person whenever fish is involved."

The cat rolled her eyes, "I play into one of my stereotypes, sue me."

"Pssh, one?"

"You got something to say Black?"

"No, no, just wanted to know if you wanted to go swimming with Yang and I later."

"Why you little…wait if I said no wouldn't that mean you and Yang would be alone together?"

"Uh…"

Before the two could spiral further into their rabbit hole of banter, the sounds of two men, one old and the other young, could be heard echoing from inside the tavern.

The young man exited through the side entrance near the kitchen first, facing away from the group he threw his hair net on the ground in frustration, "That's it, I quit!"

An infuriated middle aged man stormed out after him, "You get back here Gristle!"

"No, I'm done, I'm clearly not good enough for you!"

"Why you little….Ren? Is that you?" The old man asked, his hardened red face softening slightly in surprise.

The other man spun around to reveal shaggy brown hair and green eyes. Neo recognized them instantly, they belonged Gristle Shntiz, one of the older children once from the orphanage.

Ren and Nora waved, "Hey there Mung, need any help?" Their own resident chef said with a chipper smile.

The rest of the night went by in a stupor of shock and sorrow, nobody having the energy to feel anything more than a numb horror at what had happened. After the fire broke out, the White Fang's front lines buckled under Naislain's relentless assault. Only the enraged rampages of the enemies' three commanders caused any noticeable damage to their ranks. Even then the White Fang were clearly the losers of the ill fated battle, the mountain of corpses once harboring the souls of the refugees they were protecting being the final testament to their crushing defeat.

Protecting Neptune thought again, still in a stupefied daze of physical and emotional exhaustion from the night's regrettable events.

The terrorists, the monsters they had been marching to stop from ripping apart their precious world peace had been protecting refugees. Refugees the Sentinels screwed over, innocents that they were supposed to protect.

Naislain tried to encourage the troops halfheartedly by telling them they were traitors. "They had embraced the devil with open arms, by tomorrow they would have all been wearing masks and pointing guns at you and your families." He said.

Neptune doubted, or at the least hopped with every ounce of faith he had in human decency, that none of the other soldiers bought his bullshit. However the young man saw otherwise in their eyes. They were all so tired, so distraught over what had happened that they would be willing to swallow anything he feed them. He couldn't blame them, if he hadn't known something fishy was going on behind the scenes he would be just like them, hungrily lapping up every lie.

It didn't help that after their base was stripepd clean of what meager supplies they had, Naislain had ordered the base be torched with the bodies of the victims inside. Only those that were there for the slaughter knew the true extent of how gruesome it was. Velvet was their only real source of that, poor, poor Velvet.

The normally rather chipper girl, the beacon of positivity in their part of the army, sulked her way out of her team's tent with drooped ears.

"How's Coco?" Asked yatsu worriedly before clutching his bandaged side with pain. He had just came back from the medical tent along with most of Team FNKI. Neon had already been sitting with Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet. Fo was leaning against a nearby tree, a scowl had been engraved across his face ever since he heard what happened.

Velvet shook her head, "She's taking it pretty hard."

"To be expected" Fox said, his voice surprisingly calm given the barely contained fury in his demeanor.

Velvet, not noticing his disposition and still feeling the brunt of her own emotional turmoil, shot him a glare but softened quickly, that girl didn't have a mean bone in her body.

"She just keeps clutching that doll she picked up from the...pile." Velvet shivered.

"I managed to calm her down a bit but I don't think she's going to stop crying any time soon."

The group fell silent, the smell of the dead fire and burnt trees around them, along with the distinct sound of the fire continuing on the far end of the forest, near the village, continued to fuel their dread. There would be more than a few skirmishes with the grimm tonight.

"I fail to see the problem rabbit." Said an unsympathetic voice.

Team JAVA stepped towards them. Coco's sister and their leader held a satisfied air about her along with her lacky Alice. Fuschia remained as unreadable as always, however their fourth member Vericks seemed of their game. Their face was visibly paler and one with sharp eyes could notice the slightest of trembles in her hands. Despite her distaste for the faunus, the events of the last few hours wasn't sitting quite right with her either.

Java eyed Velvet with a vitriolic gaze. "The girl had years to steel herself, to chace all her demons away and be ready for the sacrifices of a war against those who took our family away. She refused and now she is paying for the consequences."

For a moment Velvet lost her cool and grabbed Java by the collar, "How the FUCK can you stand there and say that about your sister!? You honestly expect her to be OK with killing innocent people!?"

Java punched Velvet square in the diaphragm with enough for to end her flying into the tree Fox as leaning against. Everyone in the group tensed up, ready to jump to the bunny girl's aid if a fight were to escalate, regardless if attacking a hire officer would be considered treason.

Fox and Neon helped a coughing Velvet to her feet, Yatsu tried to lend a han but cringed due to his injury.

Java rolled her eyes, her posture casual and nonchalant, as if she had simply stepped on an ant while walking rather than assaulting a person.

"Don't touch me again animal" she said condescendingly.

"Those two years at Beacon, you might have gotten my impressionable and frankly naive little sister to believe that you're some sweet little cherub to be loved and cherished."

She moved her dark shades down the brim of her nose, her eyes like Coco's only far harsher, more...empty.

"But that changes now, I made a big mistake letting her get away from me for so long, letting her be brainwashed by the spawn of the very filth that killed our parents.

Velvet paled, Java smirked. "Oh come on now, you honestly didn't think I wouldn't have found out eventually? That you're the daughter of the two monsters that started the uprising at my parent's mine? The monsters that stole our father, our childhood, away from us. The monsters that forced me to become what I am today?"

Velvet looked down at the ground, unable to retort.

Java scowled, "Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you vermin!"

She stormed over to her and lifted her chin up with her hand, staring point blank into her eyes for a solid thirty seconds.

"To think beings so awful can make themselves look so defenseless, this is why your kind can't be trusted, why Raven didn't have your kind corralled back into the mines where you belong immediately i'll never understand."

She let go of Velvet and leaned into whisper to her, "I promised my sister I'd protect her, tonight shows the full extent of my failure. But that ends now. If I see you trying to seduce her again, mark my words you'll be a casualty by next battle."

She stormed off, motioning the rest of her team to follow suit.

"You're scouts" Velvet muttered.

Java turned around to look at her once more.

"You're a commander, you would have gotten reports from the scouts, reports, about the refugees. You knew they were sitting there defenseless, that's why you made sure Coco was with you when you slaughtered them!" She said in an increasingly distraught tone.

Everyone looked towards Java in morbid expectation, especially Vericks who seemed to be silently pleading for the truth's alternative. Java smiled.

"Sometimes you need to break a bone so it can be reset properly." She said before turning away once again, disappearing into the darkness with the rest of her team.

Here we go thought Neo tentatively. Anxiety pulsating through every inch of her body as she stared down the creaky old door of their orphanage. The building was a plain one, decently sized for a town out in the booneys. However it was clearly in disarray, window shutters falling ajar and clanging against each other with even the slightest breeze. The top of the ancient chimney had fallen completely over onto a dead garden of flowers that Neo felt guilty about only being able to vaguely remember. The once bright yellow paint of the establishment had worn away to reveal the bare rough texture of Vacuan lumber.

Nora slipped her hand into her own to steady her, "I guess it's time" she said with a truly genuine smile.

Neo quickly glanced behind her. Blake and Ciel had gone of into town to ask about what the current state of the cave was. She looked down the path the two girls had followed, heading down into the static, picturesque nobody town sitting at the base of the relatively small Mount Reflez separating the temperate grasslands of south Vale and the dry desert of eastern Vacuo. A part of her instinctively wished to trigger her semblance, to fall apart into a million pieces at the slightest pressure and sprint away from the source of her pain. But she couldn't do that, not now, not with her new family all around her. After all she was the oldest person there, what kind of example would she be setting by fleeing in front of something so trivial in the grand scheme of their little odyssey?

Her eyes shifted to the others around her. Ren and Gristle were to her right looking at her expectantly, to her left Merc, Yang, Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune were all there, ready to support her. With renewed confidence, Neo knocked on the door.

A few seconds later the large plank of wood squeaked on its hinges as the face of an old woman peaked out at them. Her hair was much greyer and her face was peppered with a thousand more wrinkles than the nearly invisible crows feet she remembered, as to be expected. However her warm pale green eyes sparkled with the same motherly radiance that they did years ago.

She looked at Ren and Nora first and gasped, "Oh my god look at how you two have grown! I've worried so much about you, my little huntsmen!"

Gristle rolled his eyes, "They're called Sentinels now mother."

Ren chuckled, "Actually right now we're neither right now. We just stopped by to see how you're doing. Also-"

Nora butted in, "Also to show you who we picked up off the streets." She made a showing of jazz hands towards Neo as if she were some fancy lost artifact. The aging woman started perplexedly at Neo who gulped down her own suspense. The woman's face fell with floored realization.

"Va-Vanila?" She said in a hushed tone, not able to bring herself to believe that one of her many beloved charges had returned to her after disappearing for the better part of a decade.

Neo felt a tear fighting it's way past the brim of her milky eyes, "Hey Brass, I-I'm sorry for not coming home. But I-" Neo didn't finish her apology before the old woman slapped her hard across the face, leaving a bright red mark.

"SORRY!? YOU'RE SORRY!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT'S BEEN!?" She screamed with a rage far greater than any person her age had any right to have.

The rest of the group, minus Gristle, Ren and Nora leapt back in alarm at the outburst.

"I-"

"SEVEN YEARS! SEVEN YEARS YOU'VE BEEN GONE! SEVEN YEARS WHERE YOU NEVER WROTE ONCE! SEVEN YEARS WHERE YOU DISAPPEARED!"

"I-"

She pulled Neo into a suffocating hug and began to cry, "That's seven years of praying every day that my little tike wasn't dead in some city gutter." She said, her voice cracking like a teenager.

Neo's tears finally poured over, "Oh god Brass, I-I-I'm sorry. (sob) I'm so sorry I put you through that." She embraced the shaking woman back with all the love she could muster, "But it's ok now, I'm back. It's been a hard few years, and-(hic)-and I've done more than a few things that I regret. But I'm just so glad I got to see you again."

Ren, Nora, and Gristle finally decided it was time to join in on the familial affection and turned their embrace into a group hug while the rest of their entourage stood there awkwardly.

Brass pulled away slightly, not taking her hands off Neo for fear that she would slip away again. "Well out here in the heat is a terrible place to tell me about such terrible things. Come, your home would be better suited for a reunion."

Neo's eyes widened, "H-home?"

The old orphanage head nodded slowly. "Yes, your home."

Neo sniffled. "Home." She said before following her inside.

"Sun!" Yelled Neptune as he charged towards his friend with Sage and Scarlet tailing him.

Their leader looked up at them with defeated eyes, his face and body covered with welts, cuts, and bruises.

He was handcuffed with special aura dampening restraints and was being half carried, half dragged, by an all business Ebony while her partner held his best friend's trusty Gunchucks Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang.

Neptune stormed towards them, "What are you two doing!? Let go of him immediately!" He shouted, not caring that he was technically showing insubordination to a superior officer.

Ebony glared at him yet kept an eerily professional demeanor, "Your former team leader was caught conspiring with a White Fang extremist during the battle resulting in the deaths of several of our men. On top of this upon discovery of his treason he attempted to assault my partner and I. We took action and contained him so he may be sent back to Atlas for trial."

Neptune and the others took a second to process what was being said to them, and in that time the two cold hearted captors had moved on towards the general's tent. Sun groaned in discomfort, barely conscious but still full of anger and ready to punch anything nearby, "F-f-fucking monsters" he muttered absently.

"H-hey! You get back here and tell me what happened!"

He reached out to grab Ebony by the shoulder, but before he even moved an inch Regulus somehow appeared in front of him, So fast, faster than even Ruby Neptune thought.

The militant man grabbed Neptune's wrist with his free hand, "It appears the general hasn't been strict enough." He casually twisted Neptune's arm at a painful looking angle causing him to cringe in agony. "Such insubordination should be smothered before it can spread."

With one fluid, efficient, motion the Sentinel flipped Neptune over his head like a rag doll and threw him into his two teammates like a bowling ball into bowling pins.

"What is the meaning of this racket?" Boomed Naislain as he sauntered out of his tent, a tired looking Pale and Alexirus following him like a couple of lost puppies.

"Nothing sir, just a soldiers getting hot headed" reported Regulus with a formal salute.

The general glanced down at Team SSSN, the slightest hint of amusement in his eyes.

"You boys better watch yourselves, your little leader here betrayed you, betrayed all of us tonight without a second thought. I'd watch your backs a little closer from now on if I were you."

Before Neptune could work up the courage to retort, Carbuncle came waltzing into the scene sporting his usual sporadic gait and unstable expression. The White Fang Commander he defeated during the battle, Pascal Crestwood of the Food Chain, was slung unceremoniously over his shoulder. Bound in rop and clapped in irons, she was knocked out as cold as Sun.

"Hey soldier boy, catch!" He said as he tossed the girl's sniper rifle towards Regulus who casually caught the weapon with his free hand.

"Where do you want this little chirper and banana boy boss?"

Naislain motioned towards a tent a ways away surrounded by several guards. "Toss them in cages there. Once we completely secure the surrounding area we'll send them off before continuing our march."

Carbuncle gave him a smile and sideways nod before signalling Ebony and Regulus to follow him.

Neptune balled his hands into fists and grit his teeth, frustrated beyond measure at his own feebleness, "He's not a traitor sir! I swear on my life!"

He quickly realized he yelled his declaration instead of politely stating it, attracting the attention of everybody nearby, something that Naislain greatly disapproved of.

"Your life you say?" The general said in a cool, almost goading voice as if he detected an unintended challenge in his young charge's tone.

Neptune gulped involuntarily, "I-I-I" Come on, be brave and stand up for once in your life! He thought angrily. "I-I-I-"

"Neptune stop" said a weak voice.

Everyone turned their attention to Sun, who was awake and lucid but too wounded to stand up, let alone fight back against his captors. His voice was scratchy against his dry throat and one of his right eye was black and swollen and his left held a certain uncharacteristic solemnity, as if the normally raging fire inside him was beginning to sputter.

"B-but Sun!"

"Enough, don't do anything stupid. You just leave this to me. YOu know I can talk my way out of anything." He smiled weakly, a single droplet of blood seeping from his scar.

"Until then…..be a good leader man."

Neptune's eyes went wide, "Wait! What do you mean by that!"

He tried to run to him but Sage and Scarlet held him back from doing something he might regret. Heads down and tears in their eyes the whole time.

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?" He screamed, his voice wavering horribly.

"It's just like you to run off and leave all the hard stuff to us! Don't you fucknig dare leave us like this! Don't you (sob) fucknig dare!"

But Sun didn't answer, he had already fallen unconscious yet again, leaving his team to their woes.

"And that's it, that's my whole disgusting life story." Neo said, a lump reaching critical mass in her throat and tears welling up under her eyelids once again. She tried to blink them away several times, the colors of her irises switching back and forth in an unsettling manner as they always did.

She sat cross legged on one of Brass' many throw pillows as she uncomfortably waited for her former maternal figure's judgement. The ice cream haired girl avoided eye contact by any means necessary and instead tried to take in every detail of her surroundings.

Team RWBY were arranged in order to the right with Nora on their own pillows, mugs of hot chocolate sitting untouched and cool to their sides. Jaune, Ciel who had returned earlier, and Merc were next to Neo; Ren was with Shnitz in the kitchen fixing them dinner.

The group were encircled around a tiny table covered in memorabilia from the days of the orphanage. Finger paintings and pictures were scattered across its surface just as they were on the walls of the empty house.

"Vanilla" Brass said calmly. "Why won't you look at me."

Neo tried to swallow the lump but it just seemed to grow a thousand fold, choking her fiercely and causing her resolve to buckle.

"Vanilla."

Neo slowly raised her head and met Brass' eyes. They weren't filled with disgust or horror like she expected, like a part of her had already accepted, they were filled with tears and anguish. "Honey...all that suffering you must have felt, living with that man, living on the streets, and that lab."

Neo felt herself involuntarily cringe at the mention of that horrid place, intern causing Brass to clutch her fist in anger, not towards her, but to the people that did such awful things to her child.

"Why...why didn't you come home? We would have welcomed you with open arms, cared for you like we always did, why did you just waste away in those awful slums with that criminal!? Did we-"

She gulped, "Why?"

Neo shook her head, "I didn't want to bother you with my problems, with the...that failed experiment changed me, just look at my eyes! Why would I wish all of this upon you guys when you had problems enough? And-"

She shook her head furiously once again, tears winning against her and pooling forth, "-And did you not hear what I said? I've spent that last several years a criminal! For Roman, for the man who saved me by chance, I killed for him Brass! People who deserved to live are dead because of me! Because of my want for revenge and survival! Because of the monster I became! That I'll always still be! (sob)."

She looked down at her umbrella in her lap, the pretty little trinket that concealed the blade that slit so many throats. She spoke again, voice shaking violently, "You deserve far better, I'm sorry if you hate me now. I can't do anything to fix it, but I'm truly sorry."

Neo felt the floodgates open up once again and started letting all her tears flow down her cheeks. She felt Nora leap up and pull her into an embrace, but what surprised her was the arms of another wrap around her.

"Brass?" She asked tentatively.

She looked down at her, sadness in her pupils, "Child, have I ever told you about how I started this orphanage?"

Neo sniffled, "No, no I don't think you have."

Brass smiled warmly, "Well it all started when I turned forty. I was quite the rambunctious woman. Partying, doing drugs, getting into fights, robbing banks."

Neo and Nora looked at each other in surprise, "Wait what?" Nora asked, turning her gaze back to a chuckling old woman.

"Yes it's true. I built up quite a name for myself, they called me The Brass Knuckle in Mistral. That was until one day I tried to rob the Mitrale national bank.

Merc whistled, clearly impressed, "That place is one of the most secure strongholds in the world. I'd take a thieving genius with a legendary crew to pull off that heist.

Team RWBY shot him a collective accusatory glare.

Merc put up his hands in frustration, "Oh what now? Gahh, just get on with the story granny."

The old caretaker smirked, "Well as I was saying we were planning to rob the place, it was to be our greatest and final heist; but part way through things went wrong, we made a mistake and the alarm went off. In minutes a huntsman and several dozen soldiers were upon us. I lost contact with my whole gang. I ran and ran till the huntsman cornered me. But he was sloppy, tired, and I was full of adrenaline. He made a mistake and I capitalized whole heartedly. I killed him."

She sighed, "After that I just kept running, from fear of being caught, and from my own guilt. I had promised myself that killing was a line I would never cross, I betrayed my one moral code."

She shifted her position and looked onto the small table, her left arm still slung lovingly across Neo's shoulders. "I eventually got tired of running and settled down here, or rather more like collapsed in a pile of filth near Mung's dinner and decided to spend the rest of my life wallowing in the streets and scare away customers." She smiled as if these memories were, after twenty some odd years of hindsight, now fond ones.

"I was fully ready to die, until one day in a half drunk stupor I wandered into a different town's slum and stumbled across quite the depressing sight. A woman, not twenty years of age with multi-colored hair. Her body was cold, dead from an overdose, the needle still in her arm; though from the look of her she was probably about ready to fall apart any day from a gust of wind. But in her arms was a baby girl, screaming and crying.

Neo was taken aback, "Wait, that wasn't-"

"Yes it was, it was you, my first little bundle of joy."

She let out a hearty laugh, "You should have seen me. A washed up middle aged nobody without a penny or purpose to her name desperately trying to comfort a babe who had lost her mother to this cruel, cruel world. It must have been quite the sight!"

She sighed again, more content than sad this time. "That's when I decided to get a job, I figured if I took someone's life the very least I could do was make sure someone else got a fair chance at theirs. Eventually, through the kindness and charity of others, I was eventually able to open up this orphanage. With it I accepted every unfortunate child that needed guidance and care."

She patted Neo on the back, "That's how I saved myself Vanila, that's how I repented for my sins. I helped give the helpless a chance. I became a motherbird."

She looked her child in the eyes, a stern yet unwavering love glowing within them. "And here you are child, a shattered life behind you-" She motioned her hand in a slow circle, looking out at the group, "-Now you hold the key to the redemption you so want. You have the youngsters you need to guide and care for. You have become a motherbird as well."

Neo bushed, "I-I can't be that."

Merc nodded, "Yeah, after all she's only like a year older than I am."

Brass scowled at him, "But years behind in maturity."

She turned to Yang, "You really should learn to keep your man in check."

Yang spat up some hot chocolate after trying to take her first sip, Merc's face lit up red like a stop light and he muttered an insult about Brass' age under his breath.

The old mother refocused her eyes back onto Neo, "I think I always knew this would be your destiny, I saw it in you every day at the orphanage. You dedicated every second of your time to playing and protecting the younger children, your brothers and sisters." She smiled fondly, "Why if it wasn't for your age people would have thought you were running the place. Your purpose in life was to always be a motherly guardian, I just wished you would have stumbled across it under happier circumstances."

She shook her head in dismay, "Nevertheless these youngsters are lost without you. Lost between the light and the darkness."

She gestured to Jaune and Ciel. "Some are desperately holding onto their light, fearing that one more quick pull would wrench it free from their grasp." The two squirmed awkwardly from her analysis of them but didn't rise to object.

She moved onto Mercury, "Some have lived their whole light in the dark, and are struggling to find the light at the end." Merc opened his mouth to comment but realized he didn't have anything to say. He shut up.

Finally she motioned to Ruby, "And some still who resign to wander the void, believing themselves unworthy of the light's embrace."

Ruby closed her eyes and clenched her fists, her whole body shaking slightly. Her team sprung to comfort her.

"If you truly wish to be free of your past, don't let them fall into your shadow. Be the bird that shows them how to fly."

Neo took a deep breath and looked out at her expecting crowd, her family. She tightened her grip on Nora's hand. "I'll do it. And thank you for all you've done Brass."

The old woman's smile only grew in warmth, "Please child, call me by the name you always used to call me."

Neo nodded and carefully let go of her sister's hand so she could pull Brass into a tearful hug. "Thank you mom."

"So you kiss her yet?"

Ren looked at his old friend annoyedly. "Get back to work Gristle."

The man groaned, "You sound like Mung."

The two old friends worked tirelessly as they prepared dinner for everyone. They were almost finished too, it was Brass' old favorite, a massive pot of Beef Stew.

"You've gotten good at this, I remember back in the day you could barely hold a ladle" said Ren in a happy mood as he taste tested their meal.

Gristle smiled slightly. "Yeah, after you and Nora left I got stuck with the cooking duty both here and down at Mung's."

Ren rubbed the back of his head. "Ouch, sorry about that."

Gristle shook his head, "Eh, there are worse responsibilities than feeding people" he said in a monotone voice.

Ren's mind wandered to the mater of his leader and Ruby, "Yeah, there certainly are."

The two worked in awkward silence for a bit, it had been nearly five years since the two had seen each other in person. Ren lifted his arm to wipe sweat from his brow and his eyes landed on a group photo attached to the fridge. He smiled. "So, what has the old gang been up to? We talked over Scroll often but not since we were training for the Festival."

Gristle sighed. "I checked in after the tower went back up, Periwinkle is helping with the reconstruction effort in Vale, Argon is a sailor in Mistral, Zincala is in Vacuo and researching better farming methods to stabilize the Kingdom's food supply, Pewter is helping her out as his assistant."

Ren chuckled. "Those two always were inseparable."

Gristle rolled his eyes. "Sounds like another two I know."

The emerald clad boy scoffed before looking back at the hard expression on his childhood friend's face. "You still haven't told her yet, have you?"

Ren gulped, "I-I think the stew is ready."

He reached for a pot holder but his arm was pulled back. "God dammit Ren, if you haven't yet then when? This isn't something you want to boil over at the wrong time."

He groaned in response. "Yeah, because there exists a GOOD time to tell her something like that."

Gristle exhaled in frustration and turned away from him only to look back, a grim determination in his eyes, he was going to get his friend to see it his way no matter what. "Ren, buddy, pal, I'm an honest guy, been that way since birth. And let me tell ya, this secret that you've been keeping, the one you made me and Vanila swear not to tell? It's against everything I stand for."

"I know, but I can't tell her yet, too much is happening and she doesn't need to go through something like that right now."

"Can't handle going through it? Bah, she's been going through it ever since she was carried half dead through that bloody door over there!" Gristle pointed towards the back door to the house which was even more battered than the front.

The disgruntled young man returned to his work prepping the food, now with a slightly faster speed due to his agitated state. "After you guys left to join a combat school, everyone was worried sick that you'd end up missing like Vanilla, hell, you pretty much did after Vytal, but that's besides the point, you said you wanted to train so you could protect yourself, and above that protect Nora from your good ol' pops."

He clenched his fists. ""Don't worry your greasy head Gristle, when we get back this'll all be in the past and we can sit down and laugh over a great meal!" Remember that?" He said in a mocking impression of Ren's calm and collected voice, something that wasn't at all reflected by the target's grimace.

"Well Ren? You're here, the meal's on the stove, are we past it? Can we all bury the hatchet and go skipping through a meadow barefoot while the grimm do a polka dance?"

Ren clenched his teeth. "Things have changed."

Gristle sized him up, Ren had once been something of a patriarch in the orphanage, a calming presence that made everyone feel safe. However he gave off a different aura now, he was tired, distraught, and if Gristle looked closely, a little paranoid. "Oh they certainly have." The man shook his head before once again returning to the final preparations of the dish.

"You think you can just plug your ears and shut your eyes to everything that happened. That her ignorance could be a perfect little bandage for the wound you caused."

He scoffed as he combed through the different spices in one of Brass' cabinets. "But that wound isn't going away." He paused as his fingers found the one he was looking for, "You guys ran into him right?"

Ren gulped, Gristle simply gave him an I told you so glance and continued on with what he was rambling about. "In fact i'd say that scarpe is infected by now." He turned the spice packet over in his hand.

"That means there is only one thing to do, rip off the bandaid-" He tore off the top of the package and tossed it's contents into the stew, watching as the flakes drowned into the froth. "-and spray on the disinfectant."

It was raining hard that night in south Mistral and Daffodil had been forced to stop at a village due to her ankle. "I'm sure I'm being followed. I don't care if its still swollen, I'm leaving here first thing in the morning."

Her appendage throbbed slightly as if in defiance against her. "Dammit, so this is what a cornered animal feels like."

She clutched her pitiable bag of groceries inside her sopping wet coat as she slowly opened the door to the town inn, peering inside for foes before entering quietly.

Nevertheless the innkeeper, a sturdy woman by the name of Shale along with her eight year old daughter Glace and wiry husband Grass noticed her immediately.

The little girl smiled and rushed towards her, "Yay she's back"

Despite the situation, Daffodil found herself smiling at the innocent one, "You seem excited little one."

Shale laughed heartily, "Of course she is, not everyday a huntsmen comes through these parts."

"Remember darling, they're called Sentinels now I believe."

Daffodil gulped. "Traitors the lot of them" She thought hatefully, a feeling very unbecoming of someone with her...responsibilities.

"Yes it is, not a fan of the name though, seems menacing." She said.

"And the name Huntsmen wasn't?"

Shale waved her hand dismissively at him. "Oh hush, don't go disrespecting our guest."

Grass shrugged, "Sorry, sorry." He said before returning to his crossword puzzle by the fire.

Daffodil gave her cloak to Glace and entertained her constant questions for a few minutes before retreating up to her room, "What a nice little family, I don't want to cause them any more trouble." She thought, the idea that someone was following her creeping into the forefront of her mind yet again.

She slung open the door to her room, closed it, and threw herself down onto her creaky bed.

She lay there for a few seconds, eyes closed and dead to the world for all except the ambient sounds surrounding her; her breath, the rain….the creaking of a rocking chair.

The huntress sprang to her feet, bow and arrow drawn and ready to kill as she quickly scanned the room, eyes falling on the source of the sound. A man in a white suit rocking back and forth in the aforementioned chair, wine glass in hand.

He motioned to a bottle on the desk next to him. "I could pour you one if you want, it's the least I could do for my prized student."

She scowled in reply, "Cemalt, to think Raven would send someone like you after me. She must think I'm quite the threat. How flattering."

He chuckled softly in his ever businessy tone, his cold eyes as hollow and indifferent as she had always remembered. "No, no, you pose about as much of a threat to us as that little tike down stairs. Infact believe it or not there is a group of kids out there that is currently more dangerous to our interests than you, but that isn't your concern right now. No, your's should be about lowering that arrow and working out your surrender with me like a good little girl."

"I'm not little or your favorite student anymore headmaster" She said with disdain.

Jacob rolled his eyes, "On that we agree, now if you don't mind-"

She let loose her aura infused shockwave arrow in a preemptive strike, however Jacob's years of combat training honed his reflexes enough that he caught the projectile with his left hand.

"Sucker."

The aura from the arrow pulsed violently as it overloaded and prepared to explode at point blank range. But at the last second Jacob tightened his grip ever so slightly and the energy stopped flowing altogether. The headmaster gave the arrow an amused side glance and took a sip of his wine. "That wasn't very civil now was it?" He said, dropping the hunk of metal to the ground, the construct completely devoid of the aura it was overflowing with mere seconds ago.

"What the hell?" Daffodil thought panicked and confused.

"Since I'm in a relatively good mood, most likely the alcohol's doing, I knew bringing some Chilled Atlas Plum Wine was a fine choice, I'm willing to overlook that little outburst. After all you were always the problem child."

He sat forward, his eyes squinting as he analyzed the maiden. "Are you going to come quietly?"

"Go to hell."

"Never picked up those manners did you" *Sigh* It's truly a shame."

Daffodil reached for her arrows but stopped when she felt a disturbance in the air. Suddenly it became incredibly cold, no wait...hot?

"And here I was hoping to avoid bloodshed, but hey, that's how the hunt goes am I right?"

And with that the house exploded.

 **A/N: Welp, time to start the Volume's endgame**

 **Next Time: Chapter 14, Hall of Mirrors**


	32. Chapter 28: Hall of Mirrors Part 1

**Welp, here we go.**

 **Chapter 28: Hall of Mirrors Part 1**

"HELLO!" Nora yelled at the top of her lungs. Her high voice echoing down the humongous dark corridor in front of them.

Ciel gave her a scowl. "What the hell are you doing?"

Nora sighed. "They already know we're coming. In fact they probably knew we were here before hand. I was just being polite.

Merc shrugged. "She has a point."

Ciel rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the massive structure that lay before them.

About an hour up the trail from the village they had already reached the plateau that held their destination, the famous " _Cave of Vices and Virtues"_. The towering, unnaturally straight walls loomed ominously ahead of them, a pitch black shadow engulfed the entire entrance beyond the first few feet.

Merc flicked on his flashlight, "Welp, who's ready for a good old fashioned dungeon crawl?"

A few members of the group half-heartedly raised their hands.

Merc nodded slightly, "Good enough."

He stepped forward, metal legs clanging against one of the rocks creating another echoey rumble into the cave's' maw.

In pairs of two the others field in behind and disappeared into the cave. Ruby looked up at the distant peak of the mountain, shielding her eyes from the sun he saw the faint outline of the shattered moon in the same phase it had been the night her mother had passed.

"Hey Ruby."

Blake's voice pulled her leader back into reality, "Yes?"

The faunus gave her a worried look, "You ok?"

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, I am. Now let's go see what's inside."

Her friend nodded apprehensively and the two entered the dark abyss together at the back of the party.

...

"You called?" Said Raven with a guarded regal tone as she entered Cinder's chambers.

The witch kept her small room bare and minimalistic, much like how Raven kept her own, with walls painted a dull grey and devoid of any flair. She sat crossed in the near center of the dark room around the quarter's only source of light, the moderately sized fireplace beneath the room's slightly ajar and darkened skylight.

Cinder's eyes fluttered open from what she could only assume was a meditative state, her infero like irises glanced over at her guest as she smiled emotionlessly. "Ah Raven, come take a seat."

Raven cautiously made her way to the opposite side of the fire and sat down on the cold marble floor, katana across her lap as always.

Cinder picked up an obsidian fire prod and began absently poking at the logs fueling the flames. "How have things been progressing oh Grand Guardian Raven Branwen?" She said, a slight hint of playful mockery in her voice.

"Atlas and Haven academy have fully returned to session and are operating at maximum efficiency. Most of the students are eager to join the ranks of the freshly minted Sentinels."

Cinder gave her a curious glance with her right eye. "Most?"

Raven sighed. "Many refuse to return to their studies, saying we're just tyrant parading around the corpses of huntsmen and Beacon as stepping stones to power we don't deserve."

The crimson woman smirked, "Isn't that true though?"

The head of the Sentinels scowled. "The first part yes, the second couldn't be further from reality. Regardless we have made sure to place every form of pressure available onto the more neutral of their numbers as possible and are succeeding in convincing them to return. The more extreme however, as well as a sizable amount of military personnel still loyal to Ironwood and Ozpin have split off from us, retreating into the far corners of Remnant. Rebellions are expected but will be crushed swiftly."

Cinder chuckled. "Careful oh Glorious Shepard, splinters can wedge deep into your skin and become infected." She lifted her left bang and showed off her scar that only seemed to grow more gruesome in the haunting light of the fire. "I've had to learn that particular lesson the hard way because of you incompetent humans."

She returned her attention to tending the fire. There was a quiet rustling coming from her sleeve as a large black and white beetle with blood red eyes poked it's curious head out.

Raven felt a cold sweat break from her neck as she saw the wretched creature. A being with the accursed ability to rip the power of the maidens from their very souls. While bleeding edge technology there in Atlas could achieve a similar effect the fact that this tiny little grimm could do something so violatory sickened her.

The fall maiden smiled lovingly upon seeing the blighted thing and lifted it up to her ear. For a few moments Raven could swear she could hear a low a raspy whisper snake its way through the air, barely audible and completely unintelligible. Despite its foreignness, something about it felt oddly familiar to her, she could feel the dark corruption of her Reaper's Oath stirring and sloshing deep within her soul as if trying desperately to hear the beetle's words.

"No matter, I'm sure you have them under control. What of your progress with my ladies' release?" She finally said after the whispering stopped. Instead of returning the beetle to its hiding place she cradled it with her left arm like a newborn baby, absently scratching its neck as the creature analyzed Raven with soulless eyes.

Raven found herself gulping involuntarily. "Three of the four maidens have been secured, Summer should be in Jacob's grasp any day now. The barrier into the crossroads will be dealt with by Edna soon as well. Once those obstacles are removed from our path and control over the four kingdoms is stabilized we will free her and put her back in her rightful place as our god."

Cinder smiled, more to herself than to her compatriot. "And how long will that be? Old Kelvinantus is lazing quietly in the mountains right now but he oh so wants to see his mother. If you wait too long he might get antsy."

The proud dictator jumped to her feet in anger, the darkness around her seeming to compound and solidify into a type of msit in response to her curse. "It would be wise if you didn't threaten your allies witch."

Raven expected her power, the thing that put her on a physical level above Cinder, would make her retract her soft threat. However this was sadly not the case. The woman who was knocked unconscious as a mere bystander to her power a few short months ago seemed perfectly tranquil, superior even. She simply continued to slowly stroke the ominously colored beetle as both looked on at the violent leader. "You'd best take your own advice Raven."

She sighed and allowed her power to return to its slumber. "I just need time to ensure stability, don't think of it as a delay, think of it as a test. A test to see if I can prove to you how worthy humanity is of her love when united under my rule. That sounds acceptable to you?"

Cinder glanced down at the bettle once again. "Very well, you may return to your duties. My goddess has waited a millenia for release she can wait say, two more years, perhaps a month or two on top of that but nothing more. Can you accomplish that oh divine leader?"

The stoic woman nodded solemnly. "Yes."

Cinder nodded back. "Good."

...

"Everyone stop." Said Neo firmly. Whatever it was that alarmed Neo hand been picked up by Ren and Blake's trained senses, so they too dropped into their topical battle stances.

The whole procession of spelunkers heed her words and encircled themselves on the defensive. They were decently far into the cave and had yet to come across much. A few young beowulfs that that were dispatched quickly and quietly by Merc, a couple cave drawing that were typical of such caves around Remnant, and about a dozen moderately sized and untapped dust deposits that glowed forebodingly in the shadowy space. Ruby wondered why the Schnees' hadn't descended upon them by now, she vaguely remembered something about it being a historic site or something, if only she had paid attention during Oobleck's lectures.

Their band of misfits remained quiet enough to hear a pin drop as Neo slowly stepped forward, weapon drawn to block a possible attack from any angle. "Whoever you are I know you're there. Stop spying on us and come out here. I think I speak for everyone when I say that I'm not in the mood for an ambush."

Something approaching a chuckle rang out from behind an unassuming rock a few feet to their right. "Should have known I couldn't keep hidden from a fellow thief for long. Well anyways I guess it's good to see you again."

Emerald slowly sauntered out from behind her cover, hands nonchalantly down by her weapons. "Although this is definitely a surprise, Merc is that you?" She said, a fair amount of disbelief in her voice.

Merc nodded awkwardly, "Em, buddy ol' pal. How have you been? Uh, is that a new haircut?"

She scowled, "Just what the hell are you doing with this gaggle of idiots? I thought you were at least smarter than that!"

"The hell's a gaggle?" Yang whispered questioningly into Blake's ears.

"Not the issue!" Snapped Neo.

"Ladies please stop fighting!" Said Merc, throwing up his hands into the air.

"Anyways, I don't have to explain myself to you Em, all I can say is it's a hell of allot better on this side of the cave then the one you're on."

Em seemed to crack a smile and nearly laugh, whatever it was, something in Merc's statement must have been awfully funny to her. "If I had a nickle for every two bit scum I saw on the streets saying he's turned his life around I'd be queen of Vale."

She leaned to the side to get a full view of team RWBY. "I don't know what kinda drugs he's on but trust me, when they wear off he'll kick you in the shins and rob you blind, probably slit your throat to while he's at it."

She looked back at an increasingly agitated Merc. "After all, people like us can't live off of goodwill and friends for long, can we Merc?"

The silver haired boy clutched his fists, for a moment Yang had the worrying thought that he would fall for her obvious provocation and start a fight prematurely. However their resident sack of sarcasm simply laughed the mockery off. "You know Em your insults are not nearly as good as your illusions. Which by the by, my Archimedes Eye can see right through, or did you forget that little detail?"

Merc's irises lit up for a brief moment and the sound of glass shattering rang out, "And really? Illusions of my dead family? You've lost your subtlety."

Emerald stepped backwards, annoyance across her face. "You're in top form, this might be a challenge after all." She snapped her fingers causing the dust crystals around the cave to glow for a few short moments and a doorway to open up from the side wall.

"What in the world?" Asked Ruby confusedly.

Em smiled, "I'd advise you all to give up now." The sound of a viper's hiss mixed with a whistle rang mutley through the cave and Emerald shattered into ethereal pieces just like one of her illusions. Her voice echoed from the opening in the wall, distorted ominously from the distance. "Because you're in or world now."

The whole group looked towards Merc whose face had lost a considerable amount of color. "She's gotten a lot stronger."

He turned back to the party, the tiniest bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. "So, who wants to go into the dark and scary death trap first?"

...

The depths of the Cave of Wonders certainly lived up to its name. The small dark tunnel Emerald had revealed opened up into a chamber so wide and open it was as if the mountain itself was completely hollow. They emptied out onto a large plateau overlooking what appeared to be the ruins of an ancient city. The remains of once towering structures loomed in the center of the city in a raised necropolis, their crumbling yet impressive size casted shadows upon the intricate complex of streets, alleyways, and canals of sparkling groundwater that crisscrossed in a confusing maze. Almost every building in the mismatched and uneven landscape supported a mirror like surface that sparkled as they reflected back the multicolored, pulsating, light from the myriad of dust crystals smattered around the enclosed ruin. Each crystal varied greatly in size, shape, and pigment that gave an almost psychedelic atmosphere to the strange place and casting the massive illustrations of the cavern walls in a rainbow of shades.

The illustrations. "Holy shit" Weiss and Blake whispered in unison. Never had any of them seen paintings so big and filled with so much detail. There were nine main depictions surrounding the city in circle, each one directly under a different one of the larger clusters of dust. The closest, bathed in a deep blue glow, was a spherical globe, utterly flawless and without a single scratch, surrounded by a swarm of little dots spread seemingly at random. Were they…...stars?

The next two murals had been defaced by the unruly punk known as time and were completely indecipherable, the smallest of the clusters hanging above them and casting the ruined works of art in a melancholy shower of grey.

The fourth was baked in violent crimson, horrifying images of humans and faunus dead or dying, their blood spilling over the earth below as a horde of grimm ran rampant across remnant. A large coffin, too large for any human, lay in the center of the massacre, a lone beowulf standing triumphantly atop it, howling towards the shattered moon with a wide trickster-esque grin across his face.

Ruby's stomach churned at the sight of it. "Don't avert your eyes oh innocent Summer Child, History's Ultimatum, to be learned from or repeated, is not one that can be ignored."

The gang's heads collectively snapped towards the source of the voice, all of them drawing their weapons and dropping into battle stances.

"Guns, guns, and more guns in a place like this. Honestly how uncivilized can you be?" Said the slightly seductive voice.

It's source, a red haired woman in her early thirties wearing a slim fitting, yet very breathable and stylish, combat suit waltzed out from the inside of the highest building near them and onto another plateau parallel to their own. She twirled a large and incredibly gaudy dust reinforced Obsidian staff adorned with a large jewel atop that pulsated lightly with aura, a spare reserve for a drawn out battle it seemed. Her jade green eyes and vertical pupils bore into her audience with amused cruelty.

Neo grimaced. "Edna Crimson, headmistress of Shade academy I presume."

Their adversary curtsied facetiously as she adorned a condescending smile. "A+, A+, you'd be smart enough to be my student. Although I guess you would have been if old Azy hadn't gotten his hands all over you."

"A trickle of sweat dripped down Neo's forehead at the mention of her old professor's name. "Is he here? Or does Raven believe you can take as all alone?"

Madam Crimson rolled her reptilian eyes. "Does the title second strongest female huntsman in the world mean nothing to you people?"

"Glynda's scarier." Ruby remarked, trying to sound confident when in reality she could feel herself shaking slightly. She always wanted to be able to spar with a warrior of such notoriety, however the circumstances were, how would uncle Qrow put it? More than a little shitty.

Edna feigned offense and gasped. "Such sass! Oh children these days really do need to learn manners."

Edna waved her hands towards the ruins below. "Have some respect for your elders, don't you know where you are? Oh of course you don't, only Silver-eyes, Reapers, Maidens, and people with my talents cold ever penetrate this deep into the mountain. What you uncultured little twerps were gawking at just a few moments ago is non other than the long lost city of _Fuldrhem_ The land of Spring."

Its one of the oldest cities in history, yet sadly erased from its oft abridged pages.

"Quit your nonsense already, what is it that you want? A fight? Because I'd be happy to oblige!" Yeleld Mercury, taking a provocational gamble.

The headmistress chuckled. "Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bead, but fine let's drop the banter for a spell." She pointed towards the center of the city, massive temple with what looked like stone flowers carved into it's marble roof.

I'll be waiting at the monastery. "If you think you can stop me, and by extension Raven, you'd best get going." She smirked. "But no need to run, what chases all of you small babes is something that you can't hope to lose."

Before the group could question her further the same sound that they had heard before echoed through the cavern and Edna shattered into quickly vanishing shards of glass.

"Another Illusion!?" Said Nora in loud frustration.

Merc was, in a word, caught off guard. "Just like Emerald, so life like, and for so long, what the hell is going on!?"

Before any could react A chain flung out from a small patch of darkness near them and wrapped itself around Yang's midriff, "What the-" Her sentence trailed off as the chain whipped back and flung her down into one of the many abandoned streets below.

"Yang!" Ruby and Merc cried out together. Two more chains launched from another shadowy crevice and ensnared the two before they could dive after the blonde brawler.

Like before the chains pulled back and through Merc like a slingshot into another section of the city. Weiss and Blake grabbed ahold of their leader and attempted to pull her free but were instead dragged along as fellow projectiles.

"Defense positions now!" Wailed Jaune.

Team JNPR, Neo, and Ciel clustered together in the center of the plateau, each one facing outwards waiting for another attack. This time however the chains came from above, quickly entangling Neo. The Inceream haired girl attempted to teleport away out of their adversary's hold but her semblance was pushed back by the aura flowing through the chain.

"Vanila!" Screamed Nora in a blind fury as she yanked at her sister's captor with immense force and coming within a hair's breath of breaking her free.

"Wait Nora you'll be dragged along too!" Yelled Ren before he too ironically was assaulted by a second chain. The two metallic appendages twirled around each other and violently lurched the three into the air before flinging them to the ground far below like the rest.

"This is very bad" whispered Ciel.

"What was your first clue" Jaune replied dismally.

The last two standing on the high ground however didn't hold it much longer as their attacker forgoed the shadows finally and full force kicked Ciel in her midsection, sending her tumbling over the edge the old fashioned way.

Jaune spun his own body around bringing his sword around in an powerful Arc that would decapitate most grimm.

The assailant, who jaune had finally identified as Emerald backflipped like an acrobat and shot half a dozen bullets towards the warrior.

He moved his shield to protect him and flared his semblance, Reflect.

Immediately upon impact the bullets ricocheted off his aura coated shield straight towards their origin.

Emerald sneered as she was forced into an awkward corkscrew to narrowly dodge her own attack. She slid on her right knee and landed a few feet ahead of Jaune. Wasting no time the boy charge with all the speed and strength he hand and lunged his sword towards his vulnerable enemy.

His sword connected and shattered the illusionary body. Fear spread through Jaune's entire body at the realization of his mistake. He heard a whisper in his back ear. "Looks like you still got a lot to learn."

Two chain wrapped around his legs and with one clean and artful pull he found himself hurtling down towards the ancient streets below.

 **Please Follow, Favorite, or Review if you enjoyed it. (Also Leave a review if you didn't for whatever reason, always hungry for feedback.)**

 **Next time: Chapter 29, Hall of Mirrors Part 2**


	33. Chapter 29: Hall of Mirrors part 2

**A/N: Sorry I could t get this out sooner, life's been crazy lately.**

Jaune wasn't sure if he should be grateful or bitter about his aura breaking his fall. On one hand he wasn't dead, that was always a plus even if the world liked to test that truth recently, but on the other the hand magical soul force fields didn't do much to stop the pain of the fall from spreading through his entire body.

"Yep, today's starting out great" He muttered to himself through gritted teeth as he shakingly rose to his feet and for a moment, his bones seemed to weigh down in his skin, he almost wished he hadn't told his sister to stay behind. They could use a good field medic right about now.

His vision, going from double slowly back to single, allowed him to take in his surroundings. He had been thrown down into the abandoned city, a small plaza at the intersection of four streets. The crumbling stone buildings with large holes where windows were once fixed and impressions of stalls long rotted away told him that this was once one of the many market places that were no doubt scattered around the city.

In the center of the plaza, only a few yards from where Jaune stood, was a small obelisk made with a reflective glass like surface that glowed a faint white as an ethereal mist snaked around its smooth exterior. The fragile looking coat was no doubt layered and crafted expertly with dust, otherwise it would have no doubt shattered over the potential millennia it was left there unattended. The light radiating from it seemed to instill a phantasmal ambience to the desolate crossroads, making it feel even more like a ghost town than it already was.

"Ren? Nora? Ruby? Anyone?" Jaune yelled, not daring to let his voice get too loud, knowing it would only cause his shaken body pain.

"Close but no-urg-cigar" Said a voice.

Jaune turned towards what he assumed was the eastern entrance to the plaza and saw a winded Ciel stumble her way out of the shadows, dust undisturbed for centuries stirring into the air around her and hanging gloomily in the Obelisk's light.

"Ciel! Are you hurt?" Jaune asked, trying his hardest not to clutch his side and look as if he were unscathed.

His cynic friend groaned. "Rattled but not broken. Although being beaten so swiftly has dented my pride a bit."

Jaune nodded in sullen agreement. "We've got to find everyone else before Emerald and Edna do. If we can't fight them together then we're all gonna die."

Ciel let herself smile despite the oppressive atmosphere. "Well look at you being a pragmatist."

Her smile quickly turned into a scowl as she drew her weapon. Reading the situation, Jaune spun around, sword and shield in his hands, to see Emerald casually leaning up against a dilapidated chimney of a nearby building that vaguely resembled a bakery. She glanced at them with her scrutinizing eyes that made Ciel's typical analytical gaze seem as fuzzy and cheerful as a baby rabbit.

"You survived one tragedy only to find the next one right around the corner. How unlucky of you." She said, a nostalgic bitterness to her words.

The thief seized her two misfit adversaries up, locking eyes with them. She could see it staring back at her, the determination not to be beaten, and the mental readiness to defy her illusions even with their recent buff. She didn't have time to fight them, she had her orders, eliminate all the undesirables as efficiently as possible, and efficient meant using Edna's little trick.

"Well let's see how much bad luck you can handle, and if you can beat my record." Her eyes flashed and instead on an illusion materializing, the obelisk lit up like a star and nearly blinded Jaune and Ciel.

The light quickly faded and the enigmatic woman was gone. "Well she seems to be in a cryptic mood today" Jaune said.

"Let's get go-"

"Wait did you hear that?" Interrupted Ciel.

She help up her left hand to quiet Jaune, from the quiet the faint sound of a young girl's voice floated melancholically through the stagnant underground air.

Another few seconds of silence before the voice returned, slightly clearer. "Ciel?" It said.

"That voice, it sounds so familiar" Ciel muttered, a look of concern on her face as she racked her brain for who it could belong to. "Follow close behind me. Let's check it out."

Jaune nodded and the two pressed onwards, watching each other's backs as they made their way down a one of the many ruined streets. Stepping carefully around shattered pots, and large holes where cobblestone used to pave the way, scattered remnants of fibers that were once goods and wares of the long forgotten people squished moistly beneath their feet. Closer they drew towards the voice. "Ciel? Where are you?" It said, dripping with a shade of almost innocent fear.

The pair stopped upon reaching the end of the road as it began to empty out into another almost identical plaza with a similar glowing Obelisk. The voice came from a figure standing obscured in the shadows, the person seemed to be looking around frantically. "Ciel?"

The brunet haired girl motioned to her partner. "Take cover next to that wall, I'll scout out." After a moment where he considered protesting he ultimately decided that now wasn't the time.

Ciel slowly stepped forward into the second plaza, wristwatch blade deployed and ready for a fight as she approached the third party. "Who are you?" She asked sternly.

The figure jumped with surprise. "Ah! Wait, Ciel? Oh Ciel is that you! Salutations my good friend!"

Something clicked in the brainiac girl's head and her face fell. "No way...Penny?"

The girl stepped forward into the light, revealing red curls, a pink bow, and an army of freckles shattered across a smiling face that sported sparkling green eyes. "Friend!" She yelled running forward with arms open wide.

Ciel still not processing what was happening, let alone how to handle it, simply stumbled backwards in an unceremonious and bewildered fashion. "How the hell...I...I saw you."

Penny looked down at her feet sullenly."Ciel I, I'm sorry I kept everything from you...I just-"

"Ciel stay back!" Jaune yelled as he ran to his unnerved friend's side.

"She's obviously one of Emerald's illusions! She's not real!"

"Not real?" Ciel parroted back, shaking her head to bring back her senses.

Penny looked genuinely hurt by Jaune's comment. "You're right, I'm not real, I never was. I was always just a soulless robot." She clutched her metallic body, shaking as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I lied to you Ciel, my first friend, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."

Ciel raised her weapon once again, hands trembling ever so slightly. The outline of her grizzled attitude began to reform. "You aren't going to trick me Emerald. No matter how good your illusions are they can't fool me!"

Penny looked up at her. "No Ciel, I'm not an illusion! I'm real, or at least as real as someone like me could ever be. Please forgive me, please."

Ciel pressed a small button on her blade and a gun barrel formed in its center. With barely any hesitation she pulled the trigger and a bullet went flying forth, hitting Penny directly in the chest.

But she didn't dissolve.

The girl cried out in agony as she went flying back into the ground, metal scraps from her body came flying out as electricity sparked from split wires. Her voice box glitches and the last few agonizing moments of her scream became warped and twisted into something truly horrible.

Ciel yelped in shock, there was no way an illusion, no matter how strong, could survive a direct hit. This was the real deal.

"Penny!" She screamed as she ran towards her friend, the horrifying thought that she was have sent her friend straight back to the grave nearly crippling her.

"Ciel wait!" Jaune said halfheartedly, the young boy in a state of equal parts shock and confusion.

The young technician kneeled down against the robot girl. "Penny please speak to me!"

Sparks flew from her damaged body. "C-Ciel? W-why? D-do you hate me that much?"

The Atlesian girl was sobbing now. "No Penny! I don't! Oh god please no!"

Jaune shook his head. "This can't be happening, how can she be here?"

Just then another voice echoed from the dark alleyway across from them. "Full of questions aren't we Jaune? Why can't you just accept that miracles can happen? After all you managed to get all the way here despite impossible odds. I'm so proud."

A chill went straight down the young leader's spine. His tongue went numb, hands went clammy, and brow became drenched in a cold sweat within milliseconds. He slowly turned towards the source of the voice. "There is no way." He managed to spout out.

"Weren't you always the one who believed in the impossible? After all, you did manage to fall in love with the Impossible Girl herself."

From the shadows and into the pale light of the Obelisk, stepped a girl clad in red and gold battle armor and carrying a custom made spear and shield. Her perfect crimson locks fell behind her in that same gorgeous ponytail. Her exotic emerald eyes worked together with her playful smile created the look of gentle yet stern determination to improve that Jaune had seen staring into him a thousand times, both at Beacon and in his dreams since he lost her.

Phyrra chucked at his slack jawed expression. "But you haven't changed a bit have you? In that case how about a little sparring for old times sake?" Her semblance activated and her weapons moved into place. "I'll go easy on you."

Before Jaune could react she sprung forward with the grace and elegance of a warrior from birth and would have stabbed him through the chest if he didn't manage to deflect the strike with his shield, however surviving this assault seemed to be short lived as the force from the spear launched him into the ground.

"Jaune!" Yelled Ciel.

Penny pushed her to the side and scrambled haphazardly to her feet. "So you won't forgive me. I see, you look at me as a machine, a threat."

"Penny no, that's not true!"

The robot girl looked forlornly down on her old teammate. "Then I guess I better be just that." From her back dislodged several of her blades, Ciel instinctively jumped backwards as they came speeding towards her position and impaled the cobblestone beneath her.

Suddenly two fights were playing out parallel to each other in the small ruined square.

Jaune ducked and rolled in a desperate attempt to avoid his old friend's perfectly crafted onslaught of skilled attacks. "Come on Jaune, I'm holding back remember? Is this all you can muster? Running away?"

Jaune attempted to disarm her with a parry of his sword but she effortlessly yanked the blade from his hands with the invisible strings of her semblance.

"Such a waste of time wouldn't you think?" She chastised as she took another swing.

Jaune's thoughts were a jumbled mess of bewildered awe. This can't be real, it's not possible, it's an illusion! But no matter where he looked he saw no trace of the malicious trickster capable of them. And...Phyrra.

It just couldn't be real, but there she was, right down to the last detail. Against his better judgement he briefly began to believe the impossible. "H-how!? How is this possible?"

Pyrra chuckled. "Still cute when angry it seems. I'll keep that little tidbit a secret for now, maybe tell someone smarter. As cute and (snicker) brave as you've become, you still aren't the smartest leader."

Suddenly Jaune's floating sword began spinning violently. "After all you can't even beat a ghost."

The blade lunged forward at mach speed. Jaune attempted to dodge but he couldn't move, her semblance was using his armor as a weight, he was a sitting duck.

"Reflection!" He yelled, and suddenly his still new semblance surged forth from his aura and dispelled her's.

His aura manifested into a massive ethereal shield of yellow light. His sword slammed into the barrier and quickly his semblance's offensive side took effect in launching the projectile back at her with the same momentum. Pyrrha's eyes widened in surprise and she quickly moved to block it. She succeeded but her own strength went against her and she was pushed backwards and off balance.

Jaune seized the opportunity. His Reflection's quick dispersal of her Polarity released the weight of it on his armor, the rush temporarily making him feel lighter than a feather. He summoned a great deal of energy and leapt into the air, far higher than he ever had before. Shield in hand, still flowing with reflective power, he came barreling vertically down on her from above.

Knowing her polarity wouldn't work she grit her teeth and rolled away, dodging the main blow but went spiralling out of control from the following shockwave. She went careening into the side of an old building, bringing it toppling down onto of her.

Jaune grabbed his discarded sword and dropped back into his typical stance, now he was ready to fight for real.

The ground seemed to tremble violently all of a sudden and from the rubble Phyrra bursted forth, riding on her shield as if it were some kind of hoverboard. When she drew near she swirled around and got ready to slam into Jaune board first. He flared his semblance once again and raised his shield to deflect but realized it was a feint all too late.

The Impossible Girl, as clever to a T as always, Abandoned her disk at the last second and landed crouched on the ground like a panther ready to strike. Once her shield collided with his own it bounced back. Using her Polarity she forced it into a short, powerful turn where she grabbed it and used the momentum to carry her into his blind spot in his back.

With one immensely powerful and precise stab she hit Jaune in the small of his back with both spear and shield, front flipped over him, and double kicked him in the face. The deadly combination ravaged his aura and shattered his Reflective shield like a thin sheet of ice.

Jaune fell to the ground, coughing violently, some blood coming up with a bit of film. He could feel his aura failing and his semblance refusing to reform.

Pyrrha landed gracefully on the ground and gave him an approving smile. "I think that was our most successful sparring yet Jaune, your semblance is so strong, it's such a shame that it can only protect half of your body at a time."

She lifted both hands upwards and her whole body glowed with auric power. "Let's test it again."

She lifted several chunks of iron from the ruins, and with a few fluid motions they broke into a myriad of tiny pebbles, sharp as needles, and shot forward like bullets of a mini-gun.

Jaune called on every ounce of his aura and activated his semblance one last tsme and managed to deflect all incoming rock bullets. This was however, a meager effort since she used her own seemingly limitless semblance to stop the pathetic counter barrage in its tracks. The rocks fell quietly to the ground without any resistance, just as Jaune's aura reserves dropped to a resounding zero.

Pyrrha walked slowly towards him, her eerily warm smile slowly fading into a disapproving frown.

"I really thought you improved Jaune, I really did, but I guess you just didn't want it enough."

Jaune tried to stand up but quickly fell back to his knees, hacking and weezing violently.

Pyrrha twirled her spear absently in her fingers as her perfectly crafted green eyes analyzed every inch of Jaune's being and in the end she sighed. "Such a pity, all that training, all my love, and you've only put in a half-assed effort."

"That's (cough) not t-true, P-P-Pyr-(cough)"

She shook her head with another sigh and kneeled down before him. "I thought I could rust you Jaune. In my final moments I thought that if anyone could avenge me, it'd be you. But it seemed I was wrong in the end."

As Pyrrha angled her spear hope seemed to flee from Jaune. Have….Have I really failed? I-I'm so sorry...Pyrrha. But as she got ready to finish him off a scream from across the square snapped him out of his injured daze.

Through his pained tears he saw Ciel fighting tooth and nail to stay alive against a spider like Penny. Losing ground one inch at a time Ciel looked terrified as she struggled in vain to block and deflect all of her friend's attacks. She was growing tired, slow, sloppy, soon she would slip up, let a blade into her guard, and her mission would be over. Her mission to protect everyone.

Protect everyone.

Jaune felt a sudden surge of warmth coming from deep within him, the same feeling he felt when he awakened to his semblance.

You can't give up Jaune, not now not ever! You have something important, something that is still here, still alive, and it needs protecting.

The warm feeling continued to swarm through his blood, it felt almost like...aura.

Pyrrha sent her spear down towards his neck, but in one fluid, involuntary motion, almost like he was being guided by some unforeseen force, he lifted his hand upwards and Pyrrha froze.

"What!?" She exclaimed in disbelief.

She put all her strength into her push but still her weapon didn't budge, remaining suspended in mid air.

Seizing the opportunity Jaune allowed the warm presence inside him guide him. With a flick of his wrist the Spear flew backwards out of Pyrrha's hand and impaled the glowing Obelisk, causing one part of its reflective surface to crack.

Upon this, Pyrrha dropped to her knees, writhing in agony. "AHHH, H-how! How the hell did you do that!" her form flickered and the charming flair in her eyes left, leaving them lifeless like that of a doll.

It was at that moment that Jaune figured out exactly what was going on, this battle was over. He rose to his feet and Pyrrha staggered to her's a murderous look in her eyes. In a fit of blind rage she threw another punch at him but once again the attack stopped in midair inches from his face.

"HOW!?" She yelled, fear in her eyes.

Jaune looked at the hand he held up to block, it was glowing with the same light as a semblance. He then looked at the arm that was held in place, her arm band was also glowing, her metal arm band.

Ciel's words echoed through his mind. Sometimes when one's aura is unlocked by that of another, their own aura can get mixed in.

A smile grew across his face. "You really are looking out for me from above aren't you?"

He turned to the fake Pyrrha and scowled. "Listen up, I have something I've been meaning to say to my girlfriend but...I'll never be able to so you'll have to do."

He pushed back slightly on Pyrrha's armor with his new found polarity.

"After you died I was worried I would run away….or something even more cowardly."

The fake Pyrrha scowled at him. "BUT YOU ARE A COWARD! YOU ALWAYS HAVE BEEN AND YOU ALWAYS WILL BE!"

Jaune chuckled sadly as he continued backing her up. "You're right, I don't think I'll ever be able to ditch my fear entirely, but I have friends to back me up, so I guess it's not so bad."

"YOU'RE FRIENDS ARE TRAPPED DOWN HERE AS WELL! THEY WILL ALL DIE HERE, YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT!"

"That brings me to my next point! Pyrrha…" He swallowed a lump in his throat before it could fully form. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, but there is one thing I'm even more sorry about than that. This journey-"

He pushed back on the fake harder and she began to stumble. "Isn't about you."

The fake looked at him with a dumbfounded horror. "I'm not trying to avenge you, although I will make sure your murderer is brought to justice. But this journey...it isn't a quest for revenge. I'm doing what you, what the real you would truly want, I'm moving on! Moving on and taking up your mantel! I'll take all the kindness you've shown me and use it to to protect this world and my friends before evil can claim them too!"

At this point the fake had gone completely silent, pressed up against the cracked obelisk. With one last desperate attempt to kill him she grabbed her lodge spear and attempted to blind side him. Instead of relying on the aid of his newfound power, Jaune stopped the spear with his hand, turned it around, and impaled the fake through the chest.

"I'll protect them, even from you! SO please, rest easy now, I've got this."

The fake faded into the shadows without another sound and half the obelisk shattered.

Breathing a quick sigh of relief he looked towards the other fight. Ciel and Penny were still fighting, that was until Ciel tripped over her opponents strings and fell to the ground at a painful angle. "Goodbye friend!" The robot yelled as it lunged forward.

Jaune flared his new reservoir of aura once again, stronger than before, and used it on the fake Penny. Her strings and swords shot backwards just like they had back at the tournament. Only this time instead of trisecting her they simply broken off, taking half her back with her.

"GRAAHHH, CIEL IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH! WHY DON'T YOU CARE CIEL? WHY ARE YOU SUCH A ROBOT?"

Ciel broke down crying, not even bothering to pick herself up.

Jaune sat down next to her, watching the fake as it struggled to get up like a turtle on its back.

He carefully helped Ciel into a sitting position and slung his arm gingerly around her shoulder.

"She's right." She said hoarsely between sobs. "She may have been a robot but she was always so full of life. Me? I did what I was told, when I was told. And when she died? I-I-I-" She let out another sob. Jaune patted her slowly on the back.

"I did nothing. I just stayed quiet, even when Atlas refused to give us answers. I was just being the good little soldier, I even said all those things to you about Pyrrha! I-I-I- I really am just a soulless machine."

After another round of sobs Ciel heard the curious sound of Jaune laughing. "Are my tears funny?" She said dryly.

Jaune wiped away a tear of his own. "No, no, what's funny is that you decided to have this little revelation here of all places, shouldn't a soldier be more composed on the battlefield?"

She scowled. "What did I just get through saying! I hate being that person, I hate acting like a heartless robot!"

He laughed again. "Then don't!" He looked at his hand, the strange warm presence was fading and the pool of Pyrrha's aura seemed to be disappearing back into the recesses of his body.

"The past is in the past. We cried about it, we laughed about it, and we came out stronger for it. Don't get so caught up in whether or not you WERE a robot, now is the time to make sure you won't BE a robot. So? What will it be?"

Ciel looked away from him and towards the pitiful, writhing, mass of machinery before her. Most of her fake skin had been ripped away and now she looked more like a metallic grimm than the bright, happy girl she used to know.

"I am a human being."

She lifted up her weapon, took a deep breath, and let loose a dust bullet. The mass seized up and fell to the ground with a sickening lurch. The second half of the reflective obelisk shattered moments latter and the corpse dissolved not long after.

Jaune smiled. "Ding-ding-ding! You get a cookie, well you will after we get out of this hellhole. Come on let's go find the others! Hopefully whatever demons their facing aren't as ba-"

The two looked at each other and the momentarily elated mood vanished.

"We need to go right now."

 **Next time: The Thief and the Butcher**


	34. Chapter 30: Beneath the Grime

**Ehem. SORRY. With finals, family stuff, and about the worst writers block ever this gap in uploads has been inexcusable. And even after all that this chapter is still on the short side. (I was planning on finishing Volume 5 by mid June…..ha.) Well anyways here it is. Also changed the name of the chapter.**

 **Chapter 30: Beneath the Grime**

If the city wasn't older than dirt Neo would have made it her life's mission to track down the dumbass that built the place and strangle him. Unlike the carefully laid out complexes or the narrow and sporadic slums of every other city she had visited, this one was a labyrinth by every definition of the word.

The streets and squares merged and split at absolute random as they slanted down and up dusty abandoned hills, all of which ranged in width from large main boulevards to back alley crevices in which the poor of eras past would have no doubt congregated. Neo was always great at memorizing the layouts of cities for jobs with Roman, she even managed to commit to memory the over the top and needlessly gaudy provinces of Vacuo City, but nothing could compare to the utter chaos of this one.

It also certainly didn't help that the only lights that illuminated her path were that of the useless gems on the far to high ceiling and the eerie glow of the occasional reflective obelisk in the randomly placed market squares. She didn't daliy in any of those places longer than a few seconds to catch her breath. Something simply felt wrong about them, like a perfectly preserved house of someone who was long dead. The air around them was also bitterly cold, like that of an ancient glacier.

"Nora! Ren! Anyone!" She yelled for the umpteenth time in her now hoarse voice. She kept running and running, her legs felt sore but she didn't care. She had just promised Brass that she would protect those two with her life and she wasn't going to back out on it.

One more turn, one more street, one more hill, she just kept hoping that she'd find some clue as to their whereabouts. When she finally did however, she wished she hadn't.

She recognized Nora's scream anywhere, after all she had heard it many a time when the girl awoke from her constant nightmares as a child. The shrill sound echoed from a few blocks to the west, even more alarming than her distress, the low growl of grimm intertwined with it in the air.

Neo gulped. "Nora I'm coming!" She yelled towards the source of the scream in vain hope that she could hear it.

With a burst of adrenaline and a few uses of her teleportation she found her. Nora was in one of the city's countless small plazas next to another incandescent obelisk that seemed to be glowing brighter than the others she had come across. The pink haired warrior was collapsed on the ground in a fetal position while clutching her head as if she were racked with a splitting headache.

Sisterly instincts kicking in, Neo ran to her without delay. She attempted to lift her scarred friend off the ground but was violently pushed back. "No stay away! Couldn't, I couldn't protect…" She fell back into her self-loathing stasis as if she were never disturbed in the first place. Neo was certain that she hadn't even noticed that it was her right next to her.

" _What the hell is happening!?"_ Neo thought, only for a quick check with her eyes a few feet away would she realize what had gotten Nora so shaken.

Lying on the stone cold ground was an almost unidentifiable mangled human body soaking in it's own blood as a trio of Beowolves gnawed viciously on the raw meat and flesh. And then she saw it, sitting in the pulpy stew of remains was a single green pistol.

"That's not possible" she whispered absently as all feeling floated from her body and her mind tried futilely to comprehend what she was seeing.

"Hungry little buggers aren't they? Shame they ate him first, Cyan would have wanted to kill him himself. Ah well." Said a voice from behind.

An icy chill wafted through the air as Neo's blood froze over upon hearing it. Slowly, she turned around to face the monster.

Leaning lazily up against the near blinding obelisk, Azure gave her his favorite shit eating grin as he twirled his weaponized mic stand in his right hand. "What's wrong Vanilla?" He said in an easy going yet subtly menacing tone. "Scared?"

Neo felt all the courage she held a few moments early vanish into the frosty cavern air as she panicked and scrambled away, slipping on an ice patch that wasn't there before, and taking a header into the stone.

Azure laughed. "Bit of a clutz, eh? And I remember you being so elegant in your movements back at school. Ah the good ol' days."

Neo wanted to run, to hide from the one person she feared above all else. But she couldn't. Arctic tendrils of dust grew up from the earth and wrapped around her abdomen, she tried to weakly fight back but her emotions got the better of her. She began seeing it all flash into the forefront of her mind yet again. All the lies he fed her, all the days she spent locked in that sell, all the pain from that unholy project. She was frozen in place, both physically and mentally.

"Come on, look your elders in the eyes when they're talking to you" He said as the ice around her began to twist and turn until she was forced into a position on her knees and her back straight.

With fear coursing through her every vain, Neo slowly lifted her head till her eyes met the eternally cruel yet amused blue eyes of Azure.

He smiled. "Now isn't that better?" He got down on one knee and forcefully grabbed her chin and pulled her whole head towards him. The sudden jerk would have been painful if she could still feel her own face through the extreme cold.

Azure gazed deep into his former student and lab rat's eyes, marveling at they dichromacy and the swirling aura within. "My that little experiment sure made something marvelous. I wonder, just what kind of secrets do those fancy little orbs hold."

He moved her head to the side and whispered in her ear. "Maybe it's the face of the monster you were always destined to be."

Images of the beast Topaz had become all those years ago in that hellish laboratory flashed before her eyes and chilled her deeper to the bone than the ice around her ever could. Speaking of which, said ice was beginning to crawl across her face and neck, locking the position of her head in place. Azure simply stood there, smiling to himself as he watch Neo be consumed in his ice.

She found her vocal cords failing her.

" _This can't be-_ "

" _He, he can't win, not again. But, Nora, Ren. Oh god Ren."_

" _I-I've failed, I- I'm so sorry."_

She looked over towards Nora, collapsed on the ground at the edge of her line of sight, one last look at the most important person in her life, the person she failed most of all. Except, it wasn't Nora there, it was, herself?

The confusion that spread over her jarred her slowly freezing self awake for a few more seconds, giving her the chance to absorb what she was seeing. Strewn out on the floor in a pool of blood was her own torn apart corpse being mauled by a trio of Beowolves.

"No please not her!" Nora, who was in actuality outside of her field of vision cried in horror as she fell into an especially strong bout of tears and sobs.

The previously iced over neurons in Neo's head began firing in every direction to figure out an answer for what the hell was going on. And there it was, sitting amongst the sea of memories from school that she had suppressed. A lecture from Azure's class.

" _While the process is complicated and the skill required to do it is incredibly rare, it is possible to imbue objects carved out of dust with one's own aura."_

Neo mustered her strength and moved her head against her icy casing, breaking part of it.

This upset Azure quite a bit. "What are you doing!? How are you-"

"Just shut up for a second Emerald." Neo spat.

Azure looked at her with confusion. "E-Emerald?"

Neo laid her eyes upon the only object of interest she had stumbled across on her journey through the underground city, the glowing Obelisk, an Obelisk made of dust.

She felt a laugh escape her. "Who would have thought your damn classes would have helped after all." She said with amused disdain.

As she forced her hand to her Umbrella's hilt the last of Azure's unintended advice filled her mind.

" _Imbuing objects leads to a variety of benefits, biggest of which is to use it as an amplifier for one's own semblance."_

"Very resourceful, Emerald the Illusionist." She mutered.

"Wait what are you doing!?" Demanded Azure with a somewhat shaky voice.

Neo smirked, this wasn't the monster that plagued her youth but a pathetic imitation, she wasn't going to let THAT slow her down. "I said shut up, I think it's you who needs to learn some manners."

She flung her Umbrella, blade extended, towards the face of the Obelisk, shattering one of its faces. Azure shrieked in pain as he collapsed to the ground and vanished into thin air.

Without hesitation Neo ran to Nora's aid. "Nora get up, Ren needs you."

Nora pushed her off once again. "No...no…can't help him. He's-"

"He's not dead Nora, it's just an illusion! You didn't-"

"I didn't protect them!" Screamed Nroa in agony.

"Just like Pyrrha, just like (sob) Vanilla. I couldn't save them. I-I'm worthless." Head in her hands the sobbing continued.

Neo pulled the confused Nora into her arms. She deliriously fought against her but eventually she gave in and began releasing her tears quietly into her friend's shirt.

"This wasn't supposed to happen" she said weakly.

Neo stroked the back of her head. "I know, but it doesn't need to happen. I know it's scary, I know it's hard, but you can't stop now. Who will save Ren and I if you don't?"

Nora slowly lifted her head up from its resting place. "Save you? I can still-" The cloud of illusion that fogged her eyes was beginning to thin at Neo's prodding.

She hugged her tighter. "Yes, we're ok. I know it's my job as the big sister to protect you two but-"

She looked towards the shattered remains of one of the Obelisk's faces, a single shard remained in place reflecting back her warped and tainted eyes. "-I'm the one who isn't strong enough. That's why I need your help, my little Viking of Lightning."

Nora shook her head. "Wha- what did you just" She mumbled with weak confusion.

Neo smiled. "Remember? I always used to call you that and you'd always puff out your chest and go 'That's right!' You were brave and courageous. I really need that Nora right now. Ren, needs that Nora right now."

Picking up the abandoned Magnhild at their side she placed it in nora's hands. "Well? Viking of Lightning?"

With that she snapped out of her daze, the illusions of Ren and Vanilla being torn apart by beowolves vanished in an instant and was punctuated by the shattering of the remainder of the dust monument as she was freed from its grasp.

She slapped herself in the face, "Urggh, just what the hell was all that?" She said, her strength returning to her.

Neo helped her to her feet with a warm smile to lighten the mood. "I'll tell you on the way, but first we've got to find Ren."

Nora nodded in determined agreement and the two left the dusty old square behind in search of the third of their trio.

…

" _Fuck"_ yang screamed internally for about the two-hundredth time in the last ten minutes.

Things had taken a turn for the monumental worse when Emerald had completely separated them all and tossed them into a glorified graveyard to be hunted by the gaudy Vacuan Headmaster for sport. The golden brawler thought that was about as awful as the situation could get, but NO, she found something worse in the form of the very man who cut her arm off stepping out of the shadows and into the light of some strange glowing pillar. Now said psychopath was chasing a terrified Yang through the uneven streets of the city with the sole intent of chopping her into itty bitty pieces.

" _What is this a horror movie? Also FUCK!"_ She thought wildly as she ducked and rolled just out of the arc of a swinging blade from an alleyway she was passing.

Looking up she saw him, the creepy grin and black hair like horns protruding from beneath his White Fang mask. It was all quite unnerving to say the least.

"What's wrong blondie?" He said in a calm, menacing tone.

Yang screamed for every muscle in her body to attack, yet they disobeyed her and she found herself running with her metaphorical tail between her legs.

" _The hell am I doing!? We're not afraid of him!"_ Steeling herself, she spun around, ready to fight back...until she saw him slowly walking towards her, sword drawn and radiating a demonic red as if it were coated with blood.

" _Nope"_ Her body seemed to say as once again her instincts kicked in and her legs launched her forward, this time using her gauntlets to give her an extra boost for her getaway.

" _Please, just turn around and fight him. Stop running you god damn coward!"_ She yelled internally. However it seemed the more she struggled against herself the less effect she seemed to have. Preaching to a choir of terrified bones, her complaints fell on deaf ears as she continued her unflattering escape down rancid back alleys and dark festering crevices.

After a while her rebellious muscles became visibly sick of the strain of fighting against Yang's mental orders and fleeing for their lives so they settled on a compromise. Without warning she seemed to collapse to the ground in bewildered exhaustion and crawl up into the shadows of a decrepit old barrel in some random cramped side street.

" _Why? Why can't I fight him!?"_

Her orders to stop hiding and stand tall failed one after the other as they were overpowered by fear. Every inch of her body shook violently, her eyes began to fill with water and a near silent sob escaped her pressed lips. Phantom visions of her last fight with the monster forcing themselves into the forefront of her mind. With every painful repeat the stub beneath her metal arm ached and throbbed.

" _Who was I kidding? I can't fight this, thing. I-I-I can't do it."_

Hot tears spilt over her cheeks as she pulled her legs closer to her chest in an attempt to back herself seem as small as possible.

From the confines of her homey rut she heard him draw ever nearer, his sword hacking and slashing through ancient boxes and doors in an attempt to find her just a block away. He'd find her soon, but atleast she was able to secure a minute or two of fearful self loathing before he inevitably finished what he started all those months ago.

"Come on out blondie! There's no use in hiding. At least make this fun for me!" He bellowed with a hint of amused satisfaction in his voice.

Yang lifted her head slightly and looked to the side. He was about seven yards out and checking behind a similar barrel in an adjacent alleyway.

 _How could I be so stupid?"_ She despaired to herself.

There was no way she would have ever been able to beat Adam. Even if she gained all the strength in the world, even if she burnt brighter than the sun she would have never been able to stand up to him. She knew this couldn't be the real him, it had to have been one of Emerald's illusions, but that didn't matter. She froze up regardless.

Shakily she lowered her head once again to avoid his possible gaze and stared down at her reflection in a nearby muddy puddle. Her sunny hair that she prized so much was caked in dust and dirt from the cave and city causing the underlying color of gold to look more like tarnished pewter. The old Yang would have gotten furious that this chase had dared result in her golden locks being tainted and have taken her unrelenting frustration out on her enemies. But not the new Yang. No, the new Yang was forged of a far less sturdy material, made on the cheap after a couple months of wallowing in her bed and nursing a wound of body and pride that will never heal.

She was weak and helpless, more an illusion of herself than the very one she fought.

Her eyes shifted from her hair and found her attention gravitating to her permanent wound. Or rather, the thing that attempted to heal it. The metallic arm that Mercury had beautifully crafted for her over the course of only a week. Despite the wear and tear it had suffered from its brawls and travels she could still see the faintest of shimmers coming from its steel surface. Despite the grime it almost glowed.

"You helped me take the first step." She said absently, gears turning in slowly in her head.

Finally the terror that had seized her body seemed to falter. While still uncertain, it obeyed her commands again. She tightened her metal arm into a fist and slowly rose to her feet.

"Turn around, I'm standing right here." She found herself yelling.

Surprised, yet not altogether unhappy with the change in her mood, Adam spun back to face her, a grin slowly forming again on his face.

"So? What have you planned now? Wait you don't know what that word means do you?"

Yang took a deep breath and centered her mind. She could feel the tremors in her body wanting to retreat again, the flashbacks to that day pulling her away from what she knew she had to do. All of these things she held at bay, because despite it all, there was still something ready to shine beneath it all.

Slowly, yet purposefully, she walked forward into the dim light of the main street, directly towards Adam.

The bull sheathed his sword just like he did during their last fight and smiled. "Is that fear I see in your eyes?" he chastised.

Yang hesitated for a moment, but all it took was one glance down towards her new arm to restore her resolve. "Yes, yes it is." She said, turning back to her adversary and continuing to press forward.

It was now Adam's turn to falter. "What are- well brains was never your strength. If you want your death so badly, come get it."

With a flick of his wrist his sword cut forth through the air in a blur of crimson as an earth shattering shockwave barreled forward.

Yang held her breath " _Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, NOW."_

At the last possible second Yang used the propulsion of her gauntlets to send her rocketing to the side, narrowly avoiding the lethal blow.

"WHAT!?" Yelled a dumbfounded Adam.

He stumbled backwards and re sheathed his blade in an attempt to recharge it.

Yang smirked. "Tip from an expert, NEVER bet everything on one attack."

With another blast she raced in his direction. Two feet away. Adam tried lash out with what little power he regenerated, but with one well timed strike Yang deflected the blade with her artificial arm.

The block knocked him off balance, his chest wide open. "Checkmate."

Bringing two fists together she smashed into his rib cage full force and released a volley of explosive charges. The illusion tore apart like wet paper and everything was silent.

Yang lifted herself to her feet once more, heavy yet exhilarated breaths escaping her. "Well that was a thing." She muttered.

"Now where the fuck is that silver haired dumbass?"

 **Coming up next, Chapter 31: Till Death Do Us Part**


	35. Chapter 31: Lost Little Valkyrie

**Odd day to upload but what the heck? I'm already late anyway. (Sorry)**

 **Chapter 32: Lost Little Valkyrie**

"Here's your gruel monkey boy." Said Sun's guard said a scowl that the faunus was beginning to wonder was frozen to his face.

Since he was now apparently a war criminal about to be shipped to Atlas for a grand old court martial and immediate execution combo he didn't expect much from his nightly meal. However the bowl of brackish liquid with a few chunks of overcooked carrots and what he prayed were bits of frozen salted beef.

Sun grimaced and moved his plate to the back of his cramped cage. "Maybe later."

"You should eat, you'll need the strength later brother."

Sun stuck his head out through a gap in his prison bars and looked to the cell to his left. Sitting cross legged with eyes shut in what looked like a meditative state was his fellow prisoner and White Fang commander, Pascal.

"Don't call me brother. I have nothing to do with you."

Pascal responded with a small bitter laugh, her eyes still closed. "Your 'allies' say otherwise. And it seems soon history will as well."

Sun spat in her direction. She opened a singular eyes and gave him a scathing look. "How...mature."

Another guard stepped into the small jail carrying a tray with a bowl identical to the one given to Sun along with a tiny loaf of bread. "Quit 'll be sent off to Atlas in the morning so just sit tight and eat your generous rations."

After placing the food within arms reach of Pascal he sauntered off to join the other three soldiers guarding them in a game of poker, a laugh rising out of his chest in response to a crude joke from his friend that Sun didn't quite catch..

"How carefree. I wonder, how many of us he has killed." Pascal said in a quite deadpan voice.

Sun leaned back onto the cramped ground of his cell and sighed as he pushed his food towards her with his tail. "You can eat this shit if you want. I'm going to bed, then maybe this goddamn nightmare will finally end."

Silence followed him, oppressive and only breached by the occasional burst of laughter from the inattentive guardsmen.

Pascal peaked her small head out through the weak bars of her own cell and peered at her fellow inmate. Sun glanced back, only seeing a single beady eye staring at him. "Nothing ever ends brother, and you're going to need to fight for something eventually."

Her eye disappeared from Sun's view and returned to her meager dwellings. Before Sun could return to his metallic bed the sound of spilling water and a shriek from Pascal rang out. "I spilt my soup, gah it burns."

One of the guards, who had just finished downing an entire bottle of whisky, groaned and stepped over to her cage. "Shut up you animal whore!" He grabbed a metal rod from a nearby wall and poked it into her cell.

The next few seconds went by in a flurry of movement and violence. Pascal pulled the end of the metal rod with immense strength and slammed the soldier's head into the bars of the cell. She ripped the keys to her freedom from the drunkard's belt loop and jammed them into the cage's lock. The man grabbed her by the neck but quickly regretted it as she threw his body clear across the room, freeing her from his other men, three to be exact, lept drunkenly to their feet and fumbled for their guns at their sides.

With the delicate accuracy of a sniper Pascal tossed the metal bar towards the guard standing to the far right. Going straight through one of his eyes the man crumpled to the floor never to move again. Startled and afraid, the two other men clumsily dropped their guns and scrambled shakily to pick them up again, wasting the few precious seconds they had to strike while she was still unarmed and vulnerable.

With the click of gears the door to her cell flew open and the caged bird was free. In a flash of inhuman speed she swooped down upon one of the two remaining guards. Before he could even raise his gun her claws slashed through the skin of his throat. The man followed his two friends and collapsed with a stomach turning gurgle.

Picking up her fallen adversaries' pistol, Pascal turned her attention to the last man standing who seemed to be on the verge of wetting himself in fear. Aiming the pistol at her last obstacle's head he raised his hands in defeat.

"Please don't shoot. I'll pretend you knocked me out, I won't tell them where you went I swear!"

The two stood their for a few moments before Pascal lowered her gun.

"Thank-" Before he could finished she raised the gun again and pulled the trigger. The man slumped to the ground like the rest.

"Needed to make sure the silencer was on, can't be too careful." She muttered to herself.

She turned towards Sun whose mouth was agape and cocked her stolen gun again.

"Wait!" Said Sun, fear creeping into his voice.

A silent shot came forth and blew the lock off of his door.

"There, now let's grab our stuff and go." She said, not even turning to look at him as she began rummaging through a chest off to the side of the room.

Sun tentatively exited his cell, body still poised in a tense and defensive position. "The hell are you on? I'm not going anywhere with a terrorist!"

Pascal rolled her one eye as she pulled her rifle and Sun's staff from the depths of the box. "Oh really? Then why don't you tell the general that. I'm sure he's a reasonable guy if you get to know him."

"Think fast." She said as she tossed his staff towards him. Sun effortlessly grabbed it out of the air and raised it back at Pascal.

"Big mistake, I'm not letting you leave without a fight."

Pascal simply responded with a dry laugh. "Going to throw your life away stopping someone stronger than you for the sake of the very people who stabbed you in the back and sol you up a river. As loyal as a dog comes it seems."

Sun faltered and clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. "I'm not their lap dog, I hate them, but-but you're just as bad as them!"

Pascal spat. "Oh really? Tell me when was the last time us faunus went on a little genocide romp through the towns of the innocent?"

"Does the fall of Beacon ring a bell?"

"Oh you mean that shiny little city that tried to pretend we didn't exist? That everything they've done to us can just be forgotten?"

Her face became harsh and bitter as she returned to her search through the box. "You can judge me all you like little dog, but I have something you pets can never understand."

Her face lightened to what appeared to almost be a smile as she lifted two metal badges from the assorted junk. She fitted one to her shirt, the bloodied emblem of the White Fang emblazoned upon it.

"I have my pride, pride in my freedom, pride in a world where we aren't just sub humans to be trampled on just for being unsightly, pride in the world that we will build from the ashes."

She tossed the second badge to Sun who caught it. It was the same one he threw away just a little over a week ago, the badge of a Faunus huntsmen in training, his permission slip to exist in this world.

"We have pride, and we'll take over your _peace_ any day."

The last thing Nora expected to see in the long forgotten shit hole called a city was a field of earthly grass glistening in the glow of a bright summer sun with children playing football.

"I'm not hallucinating again am I?" She whispered to Vanila.

Her sister looked around in confusion, they had spent the last ten minutes running aimlessly through the city in search of their friends till their surroundings were swallowed by a brilliant light and they were seemingly transported to the strange field around them.

"Look over there" said Neo. She pointed towards a simmering Obelisk hidden behind a nearby boulder, it's ancient gloom seemed to contradict grossly with the expansive and innocent illusion it was casting, sticking out like a dog amongst cats.

"Let's smash it and be done with- Nora? Are you listening?"

She turned to see Nora holding her hands over her mouth and shock. Neo grabbed her by the arm. "Nora, whatever it is it's just an illusion."

Nora shook her head. "No, I know that, it's just, it's just, look."

She pointed a shaking finger out towards the center of the field where a girl no older than five in a frilly pink dress had fallen onto the ground and scraped her knee on a stone. Most of the boys around her refused to help her up even though she was crying and decided to laugh at her misfortune.

"I told you we shouldn't have let the rich girl play!" One yelled.

After child nearly doubled over laughing. "I don't know man, this is pretty funny. Hey what's wrong? Eat too much gold with brunch this morning?" He said in a mocking voice before the rest of his friend belted out a choir of snot nosed laughs.

The girl kept crying. "Stop, I-I can play just as good as you!"

"Oh really? What are you going to do? Get your cake butler to teach you? Ha."

"Hey knock it off you guys!" Said a boy with black hair as he ran towards the girl.

"Quit picking on a girl and just go back to your game, it's probably more fun anyways." He said in a calm yet commanding voice.

The other boys scoffed at him yet still returned to their game of ball, leaving the girl and her savior alone. The boy reached out his hand. "Does it hurt? I can take you back to your house if you want."

The girl in the dress responded by slapping his hand away and letting out another sob. "I-I'm not some useless baby. I can do anything a boy can, I can-" She broke into a bout of crying once again.

The boy sat down next to her in silence. Neo and Nora inched closer to the two. The closer they got the fancier the girl's dress appeared. Elegant stitching and patterns danced danced elegantly to compliment her pink hair. Her baby soft skin across her arms and hands implied that she wasn't used to much physical exertion.

"You lift your legs too much when you run." The boy finally said.

The little girl sniffled and arched her left eyebrow.

"I mean it." He rose to his feet and began running in place to show her. "You want to keep your body as small as you can, that means keep your hands to your side. Do that and you'll outrun them all soon, got that?" He said, a lighthearted smile upon his face.

The girl chuckled and smiled back at him. "Thanks, what was your name name again?"

His smile only seemed to widen. "The names Lie Ren, what's your's?"

Lifting herself to her feet and dusting off her clothes she extended her hand towards him. "My name is Nora Frey, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Nora took a step backwards, one look into her eyes revealed thoughts and fears firing on all cylinders. "What the actual hell is happening."

Neo looked just as confused as her. "If this isn't our illusion it must be Ren's. He must be close."

She attempted to pull her friend away from the vision before them but was to transfixed on the scene to budge an inch.

"You know, there has been something that's been bugging me for weeks now." She muttered, her voice shaking. She gripped her forehead and clenched her teeth. "I never thought about it before we ran into Cyan but...well this might sound silly but-" She belted out a fragile laugh that was over seconds after it began. "I can't seem to remember how I ended up at the orphanage."

Nora grabbed her and yanked her towards her face. "Vanilla what does this mean? You were at the orphanage before us, you remember the day we showed up right? What happened?"

She pointed violently towards the phantoms of the two kids playing innocently in the field, now unable to look at them despite being glued to their every move mere moments ago. "What the hell am I looking at? Who is Frey? My name is Valkyrie, you and Ren said….you and Ren said so right?" She was in tears now.

Neo averted her eyes from the emerald orbs that bore into her. "Nora, I-"

Neo was spared the moment when a massive explosion erupted from atop a hill in the far backdrop of the field. The scene changed around them, the children playing vanished like dust in the wind and the bright sun was replaced by the night of a new moon as pitch black as either girl had ever seen. Losing control of her legs, Nora found herself instinctively running towards the sight of the explosion, Neo following close behind.

Soon they came upon the source, a mansion standing tall and proud was ablaze with the tendrils of fire and screams. A teenager sat huddled under a nearby tree just out of the grasp of the all engulfing inferno.

"Ren." Nora said, the absence of relief in her voice worrying to both her and her friend.

She slowly made her way towards him. Ren clutched his legs up to hide his lowered face, the trace sounds of near silent sobs withered and died on the dry winds that smelled of ash and death.

"Stay away!" He screamed. The voice that Nora had known as her rock through her whole life sound hoarse and shattered, as if years of some intangible, ever present regret had finally chipped away enough as to leave it tetering on total collapse.

"Ren please, just what-just what." Out of a mixture of the heat confusion Nora began stumbling over her words.

"This shouldn't have happened, why did this have to happen." He muttered. "Why couldn't this have all just stayed buried. Why do you have to see any of this!" He yelled before his voice dissolved into wheezing sobs.

Nora hesitantly reached out her hand to touch his face when another voice one that stirred the deepest of untapped emotions from Nora's soul.

"Please oh please don't hurt my baby!"

Once again without thinking Nora found herself sprinting into the immolated house. Frantacly looking for the origin of the cry she found herself in the blazing doorway to a past long lost to the fires of her own history. The living room, adorned in a lush pink tint across all furniture and rug turning a shade of crimson in the light of incandescent flames.

With every glance Nora stole of the countless photos strewn across the walls before they shriveled up in smoke kindled a blazing memory entombed within. This mansion was her mansion, those screams were her family, she was Nora Frey, youngest daughter of house Frey. The longest line of noblemen and woman dating back to the very founding of Mistral centuries ago. Beloved philanthropist, she was to be trained to take on the responsibility of upholding their legacy. She was too young when it happened however, to young to even know the many a rival that would celebrate the violent fall of such people, or those who would be the harbingers of such a fate for the price of a sack of coins.

The vain whimpering for salvation continued from across the mansion. Nora trudged through the incendiary memoria at a pace comparable to that of a snail, soaking in the fleeting and grainy visions of a fairy tail she had long forgotten. She remembered the charmed life of a girl who had everything amongst the toys, trinkets, and dresses which lay before her sparking to life with the burnings of fire. She remembered the grandiose corridors that her and her siblings would run through carefree and playful, free of the pitfalls and falling wood that littered the now crumbling mausoleum. Her siblings, yes she remembered them too, Cerama and Tilus, a sister who doted and a brother who'd protect, their corpses blackening on the floor as their leaking blood seeped into Nora's shoes as her life with them came flooding into her mind.

Rounding the corner at the end of the hallway she found the kitchen engulfed in the same destruction as the other rooms. Numbly stepping over the fallen carcass of her father she found the last soul of the house. The girl who claimed Nora's name as her own huddled, wide eyed with fear, against the bosom of her mother. A man cloaked in black with a bladed pistol in his hands glared downwards at the pleading mother.

The man removed his hood to reveal the harsh face of Lie Cyan The assassin kneeled down, to his left, standing as still as a statue and pale as marble was Ren. The boy clutched his own child sized gun at his side, not having the strength to lift it or his own gaze from his blood stained feet. Cyan lifted his son's chin up with his index finger and pulled his horrified attention towards him.

"This Ren, this is what the dredges of humanity looks like." He motioned towards his two victim as they tried to make themselves as small as possible. "The weak lie sniveling, hiding behind the very money that could one day be turned into a dagger through their pathetic hearts or across their thin throats. Now finish them and let us go celebrate this beginning to your life as a man."

Young Ren's eyes widened in terror. "But-"

Cyan chuckled, malice lacing his voice. "Don't screw with me little larvae, as a man I've learned the layered hymn of battle, I learned enough to know that your gun has yet to fire a single shot from its chamber. You have yet to advance your life by taking one, you have yet to embrace your path"

Cyan wrapped himself around Ren and forced his hands upward till his gun was steady and level with Nora and her mother. "Are you ready to be a man young Lie?"

Child Nora and Ren locked eyes and for a split second the real nora couldn't tell which one was more afraid, the girl about to be killed before knowing what that ment or the boy to learn it's true meaning and be forever scarred by it.

Her mind reaching the limits of it's fear, young Nora pried herself from her mother's grasp and tried to run to the back door left ajar, and from sheer nerve, Ren broke free himself and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the gunshot was lost in the sound of roaring fire, the sight of the bullet hitting the child's abdomen and sending her smashing into the wall played in silence. The mother screamed bloody murder only to be silenced by a second bullet from Cyan. A smile brimming with pride stretched from ear to ear.

"The girl still alive my child, place one more between the eyes."

His child didn't seem to hear him all he could focus on was the sight of young Nora's fragile breath cracking with every small rise of her chest. Blood stained her pink dress.

"I can't." He whimpered. "Mom said."

The pride in his father quickly converted to rage. "Mother is six feet under! Send her a child for some company already! Just put the brat out of her misery and shoot!"

"NO!" Ren lifted his pistol and shot His father square in the stomach.

Cyan stumbled backwards, swearing in a blinded rage as he reached for his own gun. However the training he gave his son proved his downfall in the end and the child's reflexes prompted another pull of the trigger, this time aimed high and towards a support beam above ready to give way beneath the torrent of red and orange. The beam snapped clean in two and Cyan soon found himself buried in a mountain of burning wood and roof tiles.

Ren staggered backwards towards the wall panting and sweating profusely. An unwelcome symphony of cracks and snaps were heard from overhead, it appeared to Ren as well as the real Nora that his bullet was the straw that broke the camel's back and the entire building was about to join the family it once housed amongst the night's casualties.

Just before the ceiling caved in Nora felt a firm hand clasp her's and yank her through a window behind her. Her savior and herself tumbled onto the burnt ground beside the mansion as the entire structure gave way. Opening her eyes after the building's final breath of ash and dust was expelled she saw Ren, the real Ren, lying next to her. Tear stains across his whole face he looked into her eyes with shame in his own. "I'm sorry" he muttered before dropping his face into his hands.

Neo ran towards them but didn't say anything, not that she really knew what she could say anyways.

Nora sat next to them in silence, the sea of information swirling in her mind. Her family, her life, Ren, and his father.

"Ren-I."

Ren placed a finger on her lips to silence her. "Please I know I don't deserve it but please don't scream at me, I can't, I can't bare that." His voice cracked worse than that of a child.

Nora placed her hand on his shoulder and slowly pulled him into a hug.

Ren seized up for a second before he shakingly completed the embrace.

"Why?" He whispered. "I-you-you don't hate me?"

Nora shook her head. "Ren, you're a fucking idiot." She said with a light chuckle.

The sound of grunting accompanied by heavy footsteps sounded through the smoldering wreckage.

The group of three looked towards the side of the mansion ruins to see young Ren carrying the unconscious body of Nora across his back before buckling onto the ground right before them.

"I-I'm sorry, please don't be dead, oh god please don't be dead" he cried in exhaustion.

With unsteady hands he inspected the wound he left on her. The bullet had passed straight through here body and hadn't hit any vital organs but she looked as if she were going to soon bleed out. Ren ripped off part of his shirt and wrapped it around her waist.

"I won't let you die, I won't. Even if dad finds you again I'll stop him. I couldn't kill you so I'm going to protect you damn it." He screamed, his voice growing far sturdier despite the tears in his eyes.

Lifting her once more onto his back he surveyed the dark landscape before him. Rolling hills and shadowy forests surrounded him on all sides, no doubt harboring grimm hungry for every drop of fear and blood pumping through his veins. "Let's go" he muttered.

Watching the young boy go off towards the perils of the wild, shielding the bundle of all his hope, pain, and guilt, Nora felt a tear mirror Ren's upon her face. She tightened her grip around him. "Even when I didn't know it, you were always trying to save me, you were always protecting me. Ren, I could never hate you for even a second. You're my guardian angel. I-I lo-"

Without warning to either, Ren's lips found their way to Nora's and all the pain of that day seemed to fade away like it was nothing, like ash on the morning wind. The kiss was brief, the two broke away before they fully registered what was happening. Ren bashfully rubbed the back of his head.

"I-I uh, I'm sorry. I was just a-a little too happy."

Nora smiled "I'm not complaining."

Despite the flustered post kiss trance the two fell into they both seemed to easily notice the quiet squeal of happiness from Neo who was trying to play it cool and avoid looking like a giddy school girl.

"Oh a, don't mind me. I'm just gonna be you know, over there destroying the Obelisk so we can a, go find the others. Carry on."

Neo quickly leapt to her feet and bolted towards the fields away from the house only to turn around and give them a double thumbs up before disappearing out of sight.

Unsure how to feel about her reaction, or really anything that had just happened, the two realized they had both reached their emotional limit for the day and broke down laughing. Laughing and laughing just like in the days of innocence Nora had spent with her family, just like when everything was as perfect and pristine as her many frivolous pink dresses before the fire took them Nora knew she felt something different now, a strength, a bond she now held with her friend for life, the one she always loved. A bond of blood, tears, and any other ugly grim from the past now ripped from the grave, exposed raw and bare for them both to gaze upon, to laugh and cry over till their hearts content.

Now fully exhausted of tears and humor she forcefully pulled the still shaky Ren to his feet. "Come on Ninja boy, let's go home."

He arched his brow "And that would be?"

She took one last glance behind her at what remained of her past. So many memories now returned to her that it would take many a day to come through, to sort out what she was feeling, but she knew sooner or later she would be able to grasp them all, and file them away properly where they belong. The sound of shattering glass rang through the cold atmosphere as their surroundings faded to reveal the drab cobblestone of the underground cities' streets.

She shrugged and returned her gaze back to Ren, this time with a smile. "Wherever you are."

 **A/N: Little shorter than I would have liked but I felt I couldn't possibly continue the chapter after that little climax.**

 **Coming** **up Next: Chapter 32: Rock Bottom**


	36. Chapter 32: Rock Bottom

**My god did I drop the ball with releasing this. Between school starting back up and getting a part time job this was a nightmare to finish. Hopefully the volume finale will be up in a timely fashion, the least I can promise you is that it WILL be out before the real Volume 5 begins. Now please, enjoy.**

 **Chapter 32: Rock Bottom**

Ruby was getting pretty damn tired of feeling hopeless. Others were fighting somewhere in the city, the muffled blast of gunshots floated through the stagnant air around her yet all her attempts to track down it's source were met with dead ends and looping streets that emptied her into identical turns and plazas. Strangely no smoke seemed to rise from any of the ensuing battles, as if some unknown force were blocking them from her sight.

Ruby didn't know how but she felt something strange resonating deep within the city, a pulse of pure energy that spread throughout the city, giving it an ambient power. The flow was barely noticeable, but steady and rapid, almost like a heartbeat. Her head ached and vision grew hazy. It felt as if her eyes were beginning to burn.

"This must be what Ozpin told me about, the power of the Silver Eyes, the Eyes of a Wizard." She thought in her strained mental haze.

A voice came from behind her. "Oh so we do listen from time to time. Though we did ignore his advice and came here knowing it was a trap, so zero points for us."

Ruby spun around to face the source of the voice but found nothing but darkness, the subtle stream of what she assumed was magic energy intensified and compounded around her, the delicate river that winded through the streets now formed and swirling dome around her and her surroundings.

"Who's there!" Ruby shouted.

The magic flow moved once again, almost solidifying right next to her. "Do we really need to do this whole song and dance again?"

As if out of thin air an exact copy of Ruby stepped from the shadows. No not exact, there was a cruel harshness in her eyes, like the version of hr from her nightmare a few nights back.

"So how many people are we going to kill today? And do please try not to cry again, it puts way too much strain on a pretty face like ours. We wouldn't want Yang and the others to worry again right?" She said with an easy smile. There lay another difference between her and the Ruby of reality, this one lacked the black bags of insomnia that had become a trademark of her own face these past months.

The real Ruby placed a hand on her collapsed scythe. "If you care about my stress levels then please step aside, I'd rather not kill anyone today and I definitely would like to avoid killing myself."

The nightmare Ruby snorted. "Oh that is quite the choice of words coming from us don'tcha think? She said eying the real Ruby's arm.

The real Ruby scowled. "We're done here" she said confidently as she strode past the illusion of herself.

However this version of her wasn't done listening to herself talk. "Oh we seem to think we're being all heroic now don't we. Ignoring our inner demons and whatnot." She grabbed the real her by the shoulder and forced her to turn around.

Leaning in the nightmare Ruby brought her unhinged silver eyes towards her real counterpart's tired ones. After a few long seconds she sighed and stepped backwards, a new emotion appeared across her face, annoyance.

"I don't like this little angsty phase you've gotten us into, why can't we just go back to how it used to be?"

The real Ruby's scowl deepened. "And just what do you mean by that?"

The fake Ruby smiled and laughed while spinning jovially on her heels like a little school girl. "Back to when things were simple, when we could just be a hero and not worry about these nonsense 'consequences' we've cooked up in that dumb little head of ours." She playfully tapped the real Ruby on the head not unlike how Weiss used to when she acted like a child.

The real Ruby shook her head. "You don't honestly think we can go back can you? We've killed someone dammit!" She shouted.

Ruby ran her hand through her hair, at this rate she was beginning to wonder if by the end of all this they'd be grey. "I had this stupid little fantasy about being a hero in my head, a shining light that always chased away the dark. But the more I travel the more light I see in shadows and the more black I see in me!" Her voice grew even louder, though through the cloud of magic around her she doubted anyone but her and herself heard. "The farther I go the more grey everything becomes. I thought everything would be so simple, but it's not and it will never be!"

There was a moment of silence, both Rubies sizing the other up until the nightmarish one chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

The fake Ruby's smile widened. "We still fancy ourselves a huntress right? A person striving to do the right thing?"

The real Ruby hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"And remind us, what do we think is right for this world?"

"To protect our friends, to stop the war, and stop the Grimm."

The fake Ruby clapped her hands together. "So that is White, and what of those who were to stop you? Those that try to kill you? They are Black as night."

She jumped for joy as she broke into a fit of giggles, the real Ruby taking a cautious step backwards.

Mania in her eyes the false Ruby spoke once more. "And it's as simple as that! You're the hero so what you want is what's Right and all others are dead Wrong!"

The real Ruby clenched her fists. "They're still people."

The fake Ruby grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close. "They don't have to be, just think of them as any other worthless Grimm. Did those Heroes in those books weep over the carcass of dragons? Did they feel pity for the corrupt kings or thieving lords they rent asunder? Stop trying to make things complicated, you want simple, you want to be able to sleep at night after a good purging of your enemies? Your friends are right and deserve to live, your enemies are wrong and deserve to die! Black and White! There, it's all simple again!"

The psychotic shadow of Ruby pushed the real version onto the ground. She crouched to the ground next to her, the magic surrounding them seemed to condense even further to the point where Ruby could barely move. "Everyone is counting on us, they need a hero, not some little emo shit that cries over her victims. Sure Mercury whispered those sweet little nothings into your ears but you and I both know he was just trying to make you feel better, they all were! After all what kind of leader would just sit around and let their underlings do the killing while they sat back and stuffed their face with cookies? They need a leader that gets their hands dirty! It's so simple, so Black and White. There is no middle ground, only what must be done and the people you need to kill to do it. Now why don't we get over this little phase and get back to being the heroic smiter of evil? I know it's what you want!"

Ruby gazed up at her double. At first she thought she was pretty without those bags that plagued her own eyes in reality, but what she saw was not beauty. Beneath the untouched and rested face was something broken, what she glimpsed from under those priceless silver eyes was not the dream like piece of her past she promised but instead a black hole. A void of disjointed excuses and flimsy justification that masked a madness that consumed her.

What she had said struck a chord deep within her. Despite her convictions she felt a part of her, perhaps the very part of her mind that she was seeing take corporeal form, wanted desperately to give into the sad delusion before her. It would be so easy to simply tune out her enemy, imagine them to be grimm masquerading as humans, maybe she could even hum a chipper tune while she chopped them to pieces, a pair of rose tinted headphones to block out the screams. But gazing into the crazed vacant stare of those heartless eyes told her a truth greater than anything the phantom of want that perched next to her could rant. There was no salvation in denial, only a lonely facade, and frankly she was done pretending.

"Come on, it's si-" The real Ruby didn't let her doppelganger finish and instead elected to jam the spiked tip of her scythe through her chest.

After a high pitched gasp the fake fell silent, physically unable to talk.

The real Ruby pulled her copies' head down to her level and spoke forcefully. "Good, I thought you'd never shut up. You're right about one thing you know, I do need to grow a spine, but I'm not going to become some soulless husk pretending to be human like you! It doesn't matter who they are, my enemies are people and I'm not going to disrespect them by thinking any less of them!"

With a twist of her weapon her fake shattered like glass without another peep. The magic field around her retreated and the flow of power throughout the cavern returned to normal.

She let out a heavy sigh as she lay backwards on the cold stone street. After resting for just a few brief moments to catch her breath she hoisted herself to her feet and assessed the situation. Focusing her mind she felt the slightest of changes in the flow of magical energy, there was another, larger sphere only a few block and turns away.

"Hold on guys, leaders coming."

Within a few minutes of jetting off with her semblance she closed in on the large blip of magic in which she realized why the gathering of magic was larger than that of the one that had enshrouded her previously, this one had ensnared two people.

To her left she saw Weiss standing as still and unresponsive as a statue while a man and a woman dressed in all white sat at a small table a few feet in front of her sipping tea leisurely. To her right was a more disturbing scene. Blake lau beaten and bruised with chains binding her arms and neck like the leash like a dog. Holding the end of the leash was an illusion of Adam who violently pulled on her chains as he dragged and threw her across the jagged ground. With each infliction of pain Blake cried out in agony.

Deducing that Blake was pretty obviously in greater danger, Ruby rushed towards her and cut the metal chains in half with a single movement of her scythe. Ruby quickly scooped up the half conscience Blake in her arms. "Blake, Blake can you hear me?"

Adam looked down at Ruby with silent annoyance, like she had just damaged a toy of his.

Blake's eyes laboriously shifted open to gaze vacantly at the red headed girl before her. "Oh thank god" Ruby said with a cautious sigh of relief.

"Stop" Blake whispered to no one in particular.

Adam slowly began to step forward towards them, his end of her metallic leash in is hand. Ruby cocked the barrel of her sniper rifle as best she could while not dropping Blake and aimed it roughly at Adam's chest.

"You heard her, move one inch closer and you're gone."

Blake grabbed Ruby weakly by the edge of the shirt. "N-no, it's ok. Only one person should-should suffer-suffer for my past."

Ruby glanced down at her friend. A false smile was struggling to form across her face. "I-I can't run away, not anymore, not after I promised you guys." She winced at the pain from her wounded right arm before speaking weakly. "I won't run but I can't win. So i'll stand and take it. I won't run from it anymore."

Adam yanked on his end with abrupt violence. Despite there being no more chain connecting the two Blake's body still reacted by being pulled aggressively into the ground head first with a groan of pain. Adam tried to pull her towards him but Ruby quickly latched to her, wrapping her thin arms around her waist, and digging her boot heels into the dirt below them.

"You think I'm just going to let you do this alone? That any of us will?" Ruby growled while under the stress of the fake Adam's strength.

Blake weakly looked back up at Ruby before her gaze fell back down to the ground. "Who are you kidding." She muttered mournfully. "I've had this tailing me for my whole life. You really think I can beat it? Still just a kid."

Before Ruby could continue trying to snap Blake out of her daze something caught her attention out of the corner of her eyes. Leaning against a nearby rock, half covered in shadow as if the darkness was coming from his very being was a man in his mid twenties covered in black rags and scars with two massive meat cleavers strapped to his back. He had a set of cat ears just like Blake's only one was gnarled and nearly torn off. He stared emotionlessly down at the struggling girls with as much emotion as one would at an ant they had haphazardly stepped on.

To his left, enshrouded by the total darkness of the black fog irradiating from scared man next to him, sat another man. No, at least Ruby thought it was a man, but behind the obscuring veil whatever it was looked more like a bear, a wise old Alpha Beowulf waiting patiently for it's prey to break apart from fear and allowing it to pounce.

Blake's eyes moved upwards towards the two but immediately left them as she whimpered quietly. "I can't run anymore, but not running doesn't mean I can fight, it doesn't mean I can win. It doesn't mean anything at all."

With another yank of his wrist Adam finally dislodged the two from the ground and they were quickly being dragged through the dust and dirt towards him. He smiled as his other hand reached for his sheathed blade.

Ruby struggled against his strength while holding onto Blake with all her might. "You're a hypocrite you know that Blake?" She said with a stab of frustration in her voice.

The insult seemed to draw a small piece of lucidity from her. "You bash me for being a horrible leader, but you're being a pretty rotten team mate. You told me to stand up and not flinch in the face of death, yet here you are lying down in the mud!"

"But-"

Ruby interrupted her protest as she forcefully pulled her sniper rifle into place and shoved the trigger into Blake's hand which she clasped her own around to secure her from shaking.

Calmly and with confidence despite Adam nearly on top of her she gave Blake a command. "Blake Belladonna, as your leader I command you win this fight!"

Once again the faunus looked up to her and made eye contact. For a single moment a deep understanding seemed to pass between the two. Blake took in a deep breath and steadied herself. Peering into the scope of Crescent Rose she aimed it so the crosshairs lined up perfectly with the illusionary Adam. With the pull of a trigger the illusion shattered and the three men around them disappeared.

With the disappearance of Blake's leash the two sprawled out on the ground breathless.

Staggering to her feet despite her injuries, Blake reached out her hand to help Ruby up. "Reporting for duty captain."

Ruby smiled. "Nerd."

With a strained heave Blake returned her leader to her feet. "It's not over yet" said Ruby as she turned to look upon the prisoner of another illusion.

Despite the ruckus, Weiss and the illusion of the two people in white had not moved an inch.

"Sit here and catch your breath Blake, I'll help Weiss. Blake obeyed without protest and slumped back to the ground while Ruby stepped forward.

"Weiss?" She probed softly. As she expected her partner didn't seem to notice her, yet Ruby noticed something herself, despite appearing to be as immobile as a mountain, Weiss was shaking.

Sadly, the woman sitting down at the mirage generated table noticed as well and lifted her sight from her tea towards them. As Ruby gazed into her arctic blue eyes it felt like all the heat from the cavern had fled for it's life, leaving behind a frost so bitter it made her shrink backwards ever so slightly.

The woman spoke in a voice as rigid as the icy air she exhumed. "Child did you speak?"

Weiss' shaking intensified for a flash before returning to normal. "N-no ma'am."

The woman's gaze narrowed and her grip on her fancifully designed tea cup tightened causing Weiss to flinch as if she were hit by some wave of phantom pain.

"Did I give you permission to speak!?" She boom.

After a moment of silence the woman rolled her cold eyes. "You may speak now, but don't waste a single word."

Weiss gulped, a bead of sweat making it's way down the side of her head despite the near sub zero temperature. "I-I-I, uh." Any trace of the heiress' usual self confidence was gone, tears now began to mix with her sweat.

With all the determination of a person lazily swatting at an annoying fly the woman extended her hand outwards and what Ruby assumed was her semblance activated and suddenly a massive claw of ice sprouted out from her arm like a fountain and stopped a mere two inches from Weiss' face. In shock, she collapsed backwards onto the ground, wide-eyed with fear and shaking horribly.

The woman gave Weiss a look of disgust before evaporating her ice claw and returning to her tea. The man sitting across from her who had previously paid little attention to confrontation gave Weiss a disapproving look. "Dear don't sit on the floor, I didn't raise you to be an animal." He said before looking away, forgetting that Weiss was even there.

The obedient heiress took a deep yet quite breath and raised herself to her feet as elegantly as possible and resumed her prim, proper, and utterly terrified position she was in before the woman snapped at her.

Not quite sure how to react to what she had just witnessed, Ruby tired to pull Weiss away again. "Weiss it's not real." She whispered, making sure the illusions didn't hear her and become enraged again.

Weiss shook her head slightly. "No, she'll, she must be obeyed. Mother...mother is nice when I obey, she doesn't, doesn't get IT out."

Ruby didn't think she wanted to know what "it" was. She grabbed Weiss' head somewhat forcefully and pulled her gaze towards her. "Weiss you're stronger than this, please."

"Ru-I can't just-"

Ruby interrupted her. "Weiss, do you remember that time I was failing Math?"

Weiss' eyes shifted in confusion. "At least I got her attention." Thought Ruby.

"I was failing, Glynda said if I didn't pass I'd be held back and reassigned to a different team. But you wouldn't stand for that. When I was scared shitless of failing you helped me through two all nighters. You practically forced me to pass against my will."

Weiss' mother caught notice of their conversation and scowled. "Weiss, what are you doing."

Weiss' whole body cringed at her words and any lucidity that had returned to her in the past few moments slipped away. She violently pulled against Ruby's grip in an attempt to run back to position in front of her illusionary parents like a dog responding to its master's call.

Her leader nearly lossed her grip on her but to her luck Blake had fully recovered and grabbed Weiss by the shoulders. She spun her around so the two opposites came face to face. "Our leader is talking to you, so if you're going to stand at attention to anyone then do it to her!"

For a second Weiss broke free from the cave's spell and Ruby continued her attempts to free her completely while making a mental note to thank Blake later. "Weiss, why did you help me that time?"

"I-I did it because-"

"It's because you're a bitch Weiss. It's because you're a goddamn prickly bitch that always gets her way no matter what and doesn't let anyone rule over her. So why are you letting these two do it? Stand up and fight!"

"WEISS!" Her mother boomed, pushing her table away from her in anger as she stood up. Her tea cup fell from the table and smashed on the ground, the hot liquid flash frozen into a jagged brown crystal.

Weiss was silent for a moment as her eyes passed between her enraged mother and her worried leader. Weakly, she gave her answer. "I don't want to be here anymore."

She tried to step away from the illusion but nearly fell over. Blake caught her around the waist just in time and allowed her to lean on her for support. "Mind helping leader?"

Ruby supported the heiress from the other side. "Let's get out of here."

The three slowly began walking away when the illusion roared in anger. "Weiss you turn around this very instant you worthless Dog!"

The sound of another attack from her claw burst forth from behind them. Weiss tried to grab the hilt of Myrtenaster but her hand went limp with a twinge of resurfaced fear. In the knick of time Ruby compensated for her partner's hesitation and deployed her Crescent Rose and shot a bullet over her shoulder and shattered the vision.

"Thank you." Weiss whispered, her head leaning against Ruby's arm.

The young leader smiled. "Don't mention it sis."

….

The last thing Yang expected to see in the depths of an ancient underground city was a burning village. One second she was running through the dimly lit alcoves and the next her feet collided with the dry grass of a rural village in the midst of Summer. Every shack and quaint hovel was falling to pieces in a raging blaze. The sounds of muffled screams mixed with the howls of Grimm. Phantoms vaguely resembling fleeing victims and their beastial chasers ran in all directions around the crumbling town.

Yang was bewildered by the scale of the illusion compared to her own, the lack of detail of those in the background were likely the result of this, however she expected if she had inspected her own false adversary with a level head and closer scrutiny she would have found similar flaws and inconsistencies with the real deal. Despite its improvements in power, Emerald's illusions were still far from perfect However they were certainly enough to fool it's victim.

The scream of a young man belted out louder and clearer than any of the others. Yang turned to see Merc kneeling on the ground next to a collapsed hut. The flames bursting forth from the debris starving him off. A girl of perhaps fourteen years and sporting short blue hair was half conscious underneath the rubble.

"Coral, Coral stay with me!" Merc yelled, his voice cracking violently as he frantically clawed and yanked his way towards her only to stop with a horrified gasp as he saw a jagged plank of wood jabbed through the girl's upper abdomen.

"Oops, looks like I over did it, heh, I don't think i've got the aura left for-" She said with feigned calm before losing her strength, her head lolling forwards into the ground.

Merc quickly pulled her into his arms, the bottom half of her body covered in blood and burns. "Come on open your eyes Coral!"

The girl's eyes opened halfway and from the looks of it she wasn't long for this world. "S-sorry I couldn't protect the village, I always lagged behind you two, cough, hack, I guess I really screwed up this ti-" She stopped suddenly as she began violently hacking up blood.

With frantic and shaking hands Merc pulled out a dirty handkerchief in a vain attempt to help her but she weakly pushed it away. "Sienna, Sienna is still fighting. Go-" She trailed off as her eyes closed once again and her chest stopped moving.

Despite the blistering heat Merc was trembling all over. Haulty, despairing cries leapt from Merc's mouth. Hot tears streamed like waterfalls down his face that had turned a sunset red from raw emotion and burns.

Unable to keep watching Yang tried to forcefully grab Merc and pull him from the waking nightmare he had found himself trapped in. "Merc we need to-"

The second Yang placed her hand on his shoulder he jumped in surprise, and accidentally dropping the body of the girl named Coral back into the hungry flames that had now totally devoured the ruined house.

A bewildered and traumatized looked back at Yang in horror, the vacant look in his eyes told her that she wasn't going to be able to break through very easily.

"S-stay away you monster, stay away." His cracking voice warned before breaking into a stumbled run deeper into the blazing town.

Yang threw her fists into the air in anger. "I'm not losing you to this Merc." She muttered.

"You're not going to save him from this you know." Said a voice.

Yang spun around to come face to face with Emerald who was leaning up against a boulder at the edge of the illusionary field. Yang didn't let Emerald make the first move and attacked immediately, the concussive blasts of her gauntlets missing the thief just barely as she effortlessly leaped over them,

"Not even a little hesitation? Looks like someone didnt learn their lesson. But then again when have us humans been known to do something like that?"

Yang scowled. "You're talking to the enemy, which means you're stalling, which means you know I can beat you." Another volley went on a precise collision course that would have been undodgeable if she weren't facing someone who made a living dodging close calls.

"Or maybe I just know I'm going to win and am trying to make it last." She responded as she careened downwards into a spiral attack with her twin scythes that very nearly parted Yang from her last normal arm.

Yang shot off a blast outwards from her artificial arm and used the recoil to glide around her opponent and slam her other fist into the back of her skull. For a brief moment it seemed like the hit had rung true as Emerald's body bent forward towards the ground.

"Nice try, but you already played that hand." She thought.

Ignoring her first instinct to follow her strike up with a body slam she used the opening to retreat. Just as she left punching range Emerald's body vanished. An illusion. The real Emerald materialized out of thin air and swung her blades in a pincer attack that caught only air.

Her guard dropped from her attack, Emerald was left vulnerable to a direct hit to the face from both her gauntlets. The blast sent her spiraling into the ground but she managed to use her own momentum to spring back to her feet as if nothing had happened.

Once again the brawler's old instincts told her to rush forward, to overwhelm her with her own superior strength before she could react. But she wasn't that same person anymore, she knew that Emerald would lose in a straight power struggle, and she knew that her opponent had already taken that into account long before this fight started. Starting the rouge down she spun around and threw an aura fueled backhand to the air behind her and collided with warm skin. From the nothing that she saw Emerald's real body dropped into existence as she fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Aggravated, Emerald swung her Scythes upon their extended chains in a wide arc that caught Yang around her left ankle. A smirked crossed her face as she pulled on her weapons with incredible force. It took all of Yang's strength to not let her bones snap beneath the strain. Instead of resorting to her tried and true repertoire of brute force she decided to flow with her enemies' attack. Angling a dust powered bullet punch at the ground beneath her she launched herself into the smoke filled air above. Not letting the momentum go to waste she put all her knowledge of physics to use and hoped her strategy panned out.

Emerald was unable to see the blonde warrior behind the illusionary smoke that the autonomous illusions she had started. So when Yang came barreling from her dark ariel blanket by the force of another one of her concussive blasts away from her, to say she was caught off guard was an understatement. Her grip on her weapon loosened ever so slightly which proved to be her fatal mistake. Yang grabbed the chains around her ankle and yanked them free. As she landed a fair distance away from Emerald she used the last of her forward motion to pull hard on her end of the chain and hurtle Emerald straight through the air head first into a rock wall.

The segment of wall collapsed on impact and she was instantly buried beneath the rubble. Yang stayed where she was, kneeling in wait. Mercury needed her help and quick, but the last thing she could afford to do was underestimate her enemy. Underestimate them again.

And just as she expected, the assailant burst forth from her stone imprisonment, only this time she wasn't alone. With the murderous fury of feral harpies in their eyes, five separate versions of Emerald sped towards her with reckless abandon. Startled at the burst of power Yang quickly collected her thoughts. Emerald knew she was losing and had decided to push her semblance to the limit in a last ditch effort to win. Yang felt a familiar sense of warmth well up in the bones of her body springing forth from the small bruise on her ankle that managed to break past her aura. She was nearing her limit too.

Yang smiled. "Limits are where I thrive."

Her semblance flared and her whole body felt as light as a feather yet capable of denting steel with the littlest of effort. It was as if she could crush the world in her hand. With all this unimaginable power, Yang backed off. Backflipping away from the battalion of Emerald copies she managed to avoid allowing them to surround her and trap her in a pincer attack from all angles, however dodging an assault by five capable warriors lead her to being hit in the side by stray bullets. Flinching for just a moment her roaring semblance quickly consumed the pain. One of the Emeralds broke from the pack to attack her head on but Yang dodged by barrel rolling onto the ground beside her. With a speedy low kick to the back of her adversaries' knees brought her crumbling to the ground. Fighting with brutal speed efficiency Yang straddle the startled clone and brought both of her fists down on her head with all the force of her aura, breaking the illusionary being into pieces, returning it to the nothing that it came from.

In her slaughter of the first copy the four others had encircled her. Tossing their chain blades they wrapped around Yang's arms and legs, pulling her into a suspended entrapment. One of the four leapt into the air to begin a falling attack to finish Yang off. With all of her strength Yang broke her metallic restraints and clapped her hands into a fan of bullets that tore apart the second clone. High on adrenaline, Yang dropped back to the ground like a graceful cat and discharged her gauntlets diagonally across the ground behind her, sending her catapulting into the disoriented guard of another Emerald. Angling her projectiled self around her she landed behind their back and German suplexed her onto the a nearby rock. Her head hit the stone with a echoing crack the sent the clone into a puff of ethereal smoke, two left.

Swinging herself around to face the last two one of them had already descended upon her. A bullet smashed into Yang's forehead with enough force to snap her neck if her aura wasn't firing on all cylinders. However that direct hit was enough to cause the brawler to stagger backwards, expanding Emerald's opening. For a moment it looked as if Emerald was going to slice open Yang's stomach with her blade, but Yang's instincts kicked in and this time she let them take the wheel. Yang threw herself to the side, balancing on her right hand while she spun her legs clockwise and smacked her across the face. Her opponent was clearly on her last legs as her aura generated clone vanished with such a little impact.

Back on her feet, Yang stared down the last version of and barely standing the mercenary had a look of genuine fear in her expression as she staggered backwards. Yang resumed her typical fighting stance and ready for one final attack when she noticed something, something the reckless barbarian of her past wouldn't have picked up on. A slight disturbance in the already chaotic flow of hot smoke filled air. The sound of a person's foot crunching on gravel as it left the ground. Sidestepping to the right and lifting out her left arm she clotheslined a sixth Emerald clone that she had missed. The failed attacker slummed to the ground and burst apart like it was a bundle of confetti. The real Emerald shakily looked Yang in the eyes.

"Still not good enough, still not going to beat her-" She whispered weakly as the dim glow of her aura left her and she collapsed to the ground.

Yang let out a sigh of relief. "Ofcourse I can't beat her now, that's what I've got those clowns out there for."

Wiping the soot from the gauntlets she noticed a grimm sight in her reflection. Her golden locks were now a disgusting ash black from her gambit of diving into the cloud above at the beginning of the fight. Yang would have completely lost it, but all she felt was the ache of her bones as her semblance fizzled out and left her with only a small fraction of her aura.

"If I wasn't about to pass out I would so curbstomp you to death." She said half heartedly to Emerald's motionless body.

Turning to look at the cage of flames that now made up the center of the town she sighed. Taking down Emerald wasn't going to dispel any illusions that were already cast on the cave and it's inhabitants, which meant…

"You owe me one Mercury, you goddamn fucking clown." She muttered as she pooled her strength together to rush into the searing flames of her friend's past.

When she finally came upon Mercury to say it was a sad sight would be putting it lightly. Now the carnivorous flames had thoroughly brought the once peaceful village to ash and cinder, the smell of burning bodies surrounded and gagged her. In the middle of a single clearing obscured by smoke she saw Mercury, his silver hair tarnished by the same soot that tarnished her's, kneeling on the near molten ground with a woman in his arms.

Behind her ash stained face and singed clothing Yang thought she was beautiful. The tiniest bit of crisp golden brown hair peeked out from their blackened cover, like a drowning victim getting one last gasp of air before the impartial waves pulled her back down without effort.

"Sienna, Sienna please don't go, I-I'm here, I came back, I-I-"

The girl's eyes fluttered open, Golden Globes of purity parched for happiness as they drank in his face. Despite her crippling condition she cracked a thin smile. "I...knew...you...would...I...always...kn-" She broke into a fit of vicious coughs that ejected a grotesque mixture of blood, flim, and ash.

Mercury pulled her tighter as a defensive reflex, "Come on we have to get you out of here, to the next village, we can save you and, and, and."

"Mercury."

He looked down at her, not wanting to accept the inevitability that her wounds had brought. She slowly lifted her right hand to his face, a shimmering iron ring seemed welded to her finger. "Just let me see your face one...last..ti-" Her voice cut off as her head lulled backwards and her hand fell to her side moments before it touched him.

MErcury let out a screech of pain that perked up the ears of every grimm in Vale. He pulled something metallic from his shirt pocket. "You can't, you can't leave, not, while, not when, not when-"

Yang gasped as a tear reached her dried out eyes, it was just too cruel. In his hand was an identical ring made from steel. A pair of Steel and Iron rings, the oldest of all Anima Wedding traditions.

"We were so close."

With another earsplitting wail he pulled her corpse into a tight embrace, his head placed in the crevice between her neck and head, soaking in what little of her scent remained in her charred hair.

Sienna's eyes sprung open again yet her body remained still, leaving Mercury undisturbed. The illusion looked towards Yang and smiled, her eyes different than they were before, no longer a heavenly collage of yellow hues, they looked sullied, fallen, they were nuggets of fool's gold. A knife slid down from her sleeve into her hand and she began to raise it slowly into the air.

"NO!" Yang yelled. She thought she had finally mastered her emotions to a T, but apparently there were still things that she couldn't hold back. Before she knew what she was doing she was flung towards the two before her. Landing immediately behind Mercury, she ripped him away from the false Sienna. The fake's expression turned to one of fear as she looked towards her fiance, "Mercury, please! Save m-"

Unable to restrain herself, Yang brought her fist down on the image of the poor girl, shattering the illusion in it's entirety. Within seconds the flames, stench, and howls of grimm were gone. Everything gone, except the ash, that would always stay.

Merc still held his arms outwards as if he were still cradling his lost loved one. He slowly turned to Yang, shock in his eyes. "Y-you-"

Yang snapped out of whatever protective instinct came over her. "M-Merc, please. I-I don't know what-I-It was an illusion created by Emerald-it was going to kill you so I-"

Merc threw himself towards her, but instead of an attack he embraced her, like a decimated floodgate holding back a muddied reservoir that had collected violent downpour after violent downpour over the long years had given way to release a flood to wash away the ash that so stubbornly persisted.

After a moment of confusion Yang returned his embrace in silence, running her right hand through his dirty yet still handsomely silver hair. "There there, I'm here. There, there, just like I always will be. There, there, just let it all out."

The two sat there for a time neither could ever recall the length of, minutes? Hours? What was happening in the countless battles across the madhouse city of horrors? What behemoth lay at the end? What more could they possibly take? For now those questions meant nothing, for now they had reached Rock Bottom.

At least there was nowhere to go but up.

 **To any of my readers affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, my deepest sympathies go out to you. Here is hoping that this meager chapter by some fanfic writer who barely knows what he is doing can give you a bit of enjoyment in this hard time.**


	37. Chapter 33: Wrath

**Well that was a hiatus and a half. Incredibly sorry, between going back to school and getting a part time job this was difficult to get out to you guys. The next chapter will be the end of the Volume (Once again this ended up being way longer than I expected, I thought this volume would only be 17 chapters). The next chapter will mark the end of the fanfiction and will be out before Christmas. Then onto Volume 6!**

 **Chapter 33: Wrath**

Coco didn't look at Velvet. She knew that if she saw her face sleeping peacefully on their shared bed she would have lost all the willpower she had spent the last few days mustering, she would crawl back into her arms in vain hopes that she could recapture that one peaceful night sleep and forget for just a moment all that had happened.

But she couldn't forget, she couldn't go back to that peace, after all, that girl she hadn't even bothered to learn the name of wouldn't know peace ever again.

After having managed to find weak solace from three hours of sleep before waking up in a cold sweat, she hoisted herself slowly from her bedside and reached for her purse.

" _So much lighter, how many bullets did I go through, how many people..."_ Coco shook her head clear of those thoughts.

They may plague her dreams but she wouldn't let them slip so far into her day that she become useless. No, Coco couldn't afford to be useless anymore, there was work to be done. Lifting her backpack filled with her essentials her eyes lingered on her favorite pair of sunglasses drooped over her black coffee mug. For a moment she thought to snatch them from their moonlit perch but inevitably decided to leave them where they lay.

Still not returning her gaze to the blissfully unaware Velvet, Coco opened the tent door slowly and stealthly slipped into the darkness.

After only making a distance of only a few paces between her and the tent she heard a hushed voice from the shadows. "So the fallen warrior, racked with guilt, disappears into the void away from her pure little maiden for she is not worthy of her. How honorable of you dear leader."

Coco scanned the faint outlines of her surroundings till she spotted a figure in a dark red nearly indistinguishable from the black background.

"Fox? Is that you? Stop reciting poetry you've read and get back to the tent." She whispered.

"You know full well I can't read and I take offense to your insincerity."

Coco pushed down a frustrated groan. "I do NOT have time for this right now Fox. Get back to the Tent, pretend you never saw me. No, don't sass me about that phrase. And go to sleep."

There was a long pause, the eerie quiet turning seconds into minutes. "Is that an order?"

"Yes that is an order."

Fox sighed and stood up from the log he was sitting on. "If I might add something leader, whatever noble intentions you think you have by leaving, that won't mean jack shit to Velvet when she wakes up to find herself being held by nothing but air."

Another pause. "As you were, Coco." He said, his voice returning to his careless biting sarcasm as he quietly sauntered off towards their utilitarian quarters.

Coco kept her eyes trained on the red of his hair until she saw it disappear into the folds of their tent before continuing on her route.

" _Sun's holding cell should be close by. I'll need to knock the guards out fast."_

Regrettably she hadn't fully planned out her rescue mission for the framed faunus, but out of a stroke of luck either good or bad she found herself in a position where such a problem was irrelevant.

Entering the makeshift cell block, Coco found the dead bodies of several guards and two empty cages. The box containing the two prisoners' belongings were emptied as well.

"What in the name of Dust happened here?" Said a voice from behind.

Jumping backwards and nearly yelping Coco found the other three members of team SSSN standing behind her with weapons drawn and set to stun. "I guess we won't be needing to fight." Said Scarlet.

Neptune brushed past Coco and went to inspect Sun's cage.

"So It seems you had a similar plan of breakout and running as we did." Said Sage, his cartoonishly large broadsword that seemed to even outmatch Yatsuhashi's resting on his shoulder.

Scarlet motioned to the dead guards. "I sincerely hope you didn't do that."

Coco held her hands up in resignation. "Nope, not taking the fall for this one."

"It was probably that terrorist." Muttered Neptune.

The blue haired boy lifted up a note scribbled on scrap paper. His eyes scoured the page several times before crumpling it up and shoving it in his pocket. "Sun's not coming, we should go." He said in an uncharacteristically deadpan voice.

Scarlet and Sage looked at him with surprise. "But-"

Neptune gave an uncharacteristic scowl. "What did Sun tell us before he got carted off?"

His remaining two teammates' protest caught in their throats before they resigned to inspecting the laces of their bland military boots.

Neptune shook his head. "Just listen to me on this one. Come on, there is nothing for us here anymore." He placed his spear back onto his back and stormed quietly out of the room, his friends filing in behind him.

"Where are you going?" Asked Coco.

Neptune turned to look her over, his eyes looking nearly as weathered and tired as her own. "Vacuo, saving the world and all that bullshit, you coming."

Coco's grip on her handbag tightened. "Of course."

… **..**

Daffodil must have narrowly avoided being impaled by icicles at least three separate times in her mad dash through the whipping rain that drowned out the normally vibrant forests of southern Anima. A high pitch whistling sound propelled through the air. Another one. Daffodil spun around on her heels and slid backwards nearly onto her back as a spike of ice went soaring over her and drove into the trunk of a thick oak tree.

Fearing the loss of momentum could mean the loss of her life, her freedom from Raven's clutches, the exhausted maiden swung back into her sprint paced the maimed tree and further into the bushel of vegetation around her.

" _I've got to lose them."_

She directed her aura and magic into her feet and launched herself into the branches of the trees with a powerful leap. Not missing a single frantic step she bounded from limb to limb across the foliage that swayed in the rain filled winds. Each propulsion barely moved the branches she used as her aura absorbed most of the required force. It drained her at a fairly reckless pace but if it meant leaving no train for her pursuers to follow in the confusing surroundings it would be invaluable.

Sadly, one who chased her seemed perfectly at how in the ever changing chaos. A dart of deep red spun through the trees to her right and with not a moment to spare she called up a thin shield of magic to block a bombardment of concentrated dust bullets. Her foot slipped from the branch of her tree and she found herself tumbling backwards helplessly.

The hunter in black and green with blood tinted SMGs bounced effortlessly from his perch as he followed her down to the uneven earth. Exposed and with no cover to protect her she shot lightning from her fingertips directly upwards at him. The Assassin cursed softly then twirled to the side to dodge the burst of pure energy. It brushed his cloak ever so slightly yet barely left a mark. It was Daffodil's turn to curse.

Rubber laced clothing. Of course Jacob would have told his companions how to defend themselves from her abilities. He knew everything there was about the maidens, their strengths, their weaknesses, everything, he bloody taught her everything she knew.

The attacker landed besides her and went in for a jab downwards with the blade ends of his SMGs. Channeling her aura into the palms of her hands she caught them mid attack then proceeded to headbutt the startled enemy. Staggering backwards he was open for another strike of lightning. This one wasn't too strong, she was only able to conjure with a single hand in order to take advantage of the opening and her aim was strained by the angle at which he fell. The result was a shock that sent him flying into a thorny bush at the base of a tree. It would have to be enough.

Another icicle; this one dodged through a mixture of instinct and blind luck. Her other adversaries were gaining and the one she bested was already beginning to stir. A pang of panic surged within her. She grit her teeth, she was not going to end up like poor inexperienced Amber, beaten to near death on some godforsaken stint of dirt and her very soul robbed from her and twisted to the needs of one who would bring Misery to all Remnant.

Escape. Latching onto her resolve she channeled the raw power of nature locked away within her maiden soul through her hands to create a whirlwind around her. Another icicle, she threw it back with the force of her wind then rode weightlessly on the raging gust bursting forth from her very being. The chase continued, the assassin with the Red weapons had recovered and trailed behind her but the distance was growing, the power of the maiden may save her yet.

A glint of light shone through the darkness behind her reflecting off the raindrops to her front. A tab of panic flowed through her as she realised what was coming, a hard bank to the right while surfing atop her wave of magical wind brought her out of harm's way. More icicles. Cursing yet again her whole body reacted as she spun yet again to avoid the incoming salvo only to be forced back into her original position, directly in the way of the oncoming light.

The shine was from a polished blade. _Heradine_ , the ancient yet deadly sword of Jacob Cemalt was unremarkable by contemporary standards. Adorned with fanciful carvings and brilliant hues, it would have made for a lavish decoration over a mantle place in some rich families' mansion. It could cut through the hide of a small grimm and the skin of a person with locked or weak aura, but it was entirely without dust augmentation or mechanical upgrades. It was virtually useless, and still, she had seen that blade fell numerous rouge huntsmen throughout the years with brutal efficiency, a lethality that was heading straight for her heart.

It was probably a foolish reply to give into her fear of the blade's preposterous destructive capabilities, capabilities that were no doubt beholden to its wielder's semblance and not vested in the antique of war itself, but nevertheless upon seeing it slice through her protective winds she urged her body to action. She channeled all her being's collective aura and magic into an impenetrable wall of energy before her.

The blade connected and bounced off with little resistance. Baffled by the anti-climax, she failed to realize where her body was heading with it's continued forward momentum. She slammed into a tree and fell to the earth with a thud. The redirection of her aura reserves left her back fairly exposed and the pain of the impact shot through her body. For one horrifying moment she thought the collision had broken her back and left her helplessly paralyzed on the ground. The familiar feeling of her magic enhanced aura flooding back into place to frantically heal her wounds told her that her body was still more or less in fighting shape.

Hearing the approaching sounds of her three predators, she scrambled to her feet and fled despite the extreme pain she felt. A few trees beyond where she made her graceless crash landing she felt hope alight itself once again inside of her. She had reached her destination, a moderately sized clearing in the expansive forest. She had seen it on her way to the village but went around as to avoid leaving easy to see tracks, now, it would be where she made her last stand.

She hobbled out into the center of the circle of treeless grassland, there were stone slabs protruding from the ground, all writing that had once been immortalized upon them now nothing but depression fit for growing unsightly bunches of slick moss. Tombstones; a resting place for dozens, perhaps hundreds, forgotten by the town that spawned it; a graveyard belonging to no one but the endless expanse of time and the shattered world of Remnant.

Her magic pulsed; despite the winds, rain, and distant thunder, she could hear it clearly.

" _Hello?"_

The voice was as unsettling as she remembered, a supernatural choir of hollow echos from those long returned to the earth surrounded her.

" _Hello?"_ It asked once more

She responded "I require that which sleeps within me!"

" _Huh? Oh? Oh! It's a Maiden! How exciting!"_ The voice said.

Daffodil groaned.

" _Oh come look everyone, a Maiden has come calling!"_ The voice said, raspy yet with a strange enthusiasm.

She could feel the energy around the graveyard building, the pulse of her magic grew more rapid, a barely visible mist coalesced across the ground.

" _So the Maiden of the blistering sun light wants our aid. Interesting."_ Said the voices of the graveyard in unison.

The snap of a branch rang out. Daffodil's instincts kicked in and she quickly spun to lob a lightning bolt at the assassin in black who just leapt from the tree line into the cemetery. He reeled himself back and avoided the worst of the bolt, skidding into the ground.

Daffodil turned back to the msit surrounding her in a panic. "Please you must help me!"

She heard a grumbling amongst the voices that she couldn't make sense of.

" _Five hundred years sleeping in this Gaia forsaken hole in the ground without so much as an acknowledgement and now a demi-god wants our power? How presumptuous!"_ Said a slightly masculine voice followed by another quick exchange of murmurs.

" _But it is our duty to help our guardians! Lest we fall to Misery!"_ Said a feminine whisper.

They were arguing, wonderful.

" _We are forgotten, Misery has already claimed us."_

" _Oh just help her you old fuddy duddies!"_

" _Uggh, if it will shut you up then fine, come on everyone, let's help the little Summer out. Now, hold up your hand living one."_

Daffodil complied, reaching her arm as high into the sky the mist of souls followed till it cloaked her entirely. Storm clouds swirled over the clearing as if they new what was coming, as if they were drawn to the pulsing life force of an endangered god of nature. The hooded assassin was had once again risen back to his feet and was gaining on her, his weapons of blood a perfect accent to the forgotten compository of decay that was their arena. Like the lightning that danced above, he descended towards her with an almost supernatural speed.

He was now so close she could almost hear the hum of his aura infused with the metal of his blades.

Lightning struck her arm. The mist vanished, absorbed into her body from the raw energy. The magic within her burst to a new level of power that loomed over her aura. Her whole body shimmered with a brilliance that rivaled that of a mid july sun. The muggy air of the storm dried in an instant, the sopping wet grass beneath her becoming brittle as it threatened to droop and disintegrate into dust.

The voices spoke again, this time in a perfect harmony. " _You who bears the remnant of god's soul, who stands as light before a darkness most miserable, who strives to uphold what the traitor has failed; you are our champion, now Child of the Burning Summer; Ignite."_

Daffodil had only tapped into the True Form of the Maiden a few times, Amber had been scared to after nearly killing a bystander the first time, it was hard to control to say the least. Luckily, surrounded by those who would usher in an age of chaos, she had no reason to hold anything back.

The ground flared up into a rising wall of flames. The attacker staggered backwards as his proximity to the inferno singed a part of his jacket and licked against his aura.

With a glance in his general direction she condensed the flames into a tiny sphere that resembled the sun then released it's power in a massive beam of raw fire like a souped up flamethrower. The man retreated quickly, his coattails burning in his wake. With a loud crash a hunk of ice dust broke through the tree line, already sweating gallons from the intense heat, with its caster riding atop. He sported Blue hair and slung what looked like a bladed mic stand over his shoulder. He held what looked like a cocky grin being threatened with something that might just be out of his league. And oh would that be right.

She raised the temperature around her feet and the earth beneath her slumped as it melted as the heat compressed. She let it all release, most of the grass within the graveyard burnt away in a millisecond, the assassin retreated further frantically and the man with the mic stand nearly tripped as his miniature galcer began to give way into a puddle of glittering water on the verge of boiling. The burst of hot air sent her flying towards the blue haired man.

Any arrogance in his posture melted with his dust and he frantically raised a wall of ice between the two, a wall that was practically melted by the time it was formed. She crashed through the barricade, the volatile dust bursting around her as she collided with him. He cried out in pain as his aura began to buckle under the immense pressure. He went flying, surprisingly he remained conscious and managed to send a few of his icicle spears towards her on his way down to the burning earth. With a wave of her hand the projectiles shivered and evaporated before they even came close.

She felt a disturbance in the air to her left, an unnatural change in the hectically moving wind amidst the extreme temperature. She readied another offensive column of flames in her right hand and swung around to blast the sneaky assassin. She saw a black coat roasting and crumpling into a ball of ash but no body. A sharp pain spread across the left side of her body. She winced, even a god could wince. Her opponent faked her out and crouched into position to fire upon her at a distance where he wouldn't have been killed. The man looked far more wiry than he had with his dark cloak, his pale pink eyes had a composed persona about them that was betrayed by his slight panting as he sweated from the heat.

He shot at her again and again with his dinky weapons, they were intended for a quick and silent sneak attack on poor politicians and unlucky civilians, not for clashing on the front lines with the embodiment of nature.

Daffodil arced her arm backwards as her fingers began crackling with lightning, far more powerful than what she held before her ascension. The man's eyes widened ever so slightly, deciding that his attack was futile he channeled his aura into his legs and backflipped out of the blast zone of her lighting. However he was fatigued greatly by the unexpected heat and landed with a crack on his side, his aura was clearly reaching it's limit.

A snap of cold leaked into her bubble of heat from behind. Bewildered, she turned around to find a face full of sub zero ice dust that shocked her aura something fierce. She landed on the ground, it's melting expedited as she approached and cushioned her fall as if it were a pile of jello.

A small pillar of ice rose before her with the man in blue perched on the top and striking a pose with his mic as if he were a rock star. His skin glowed with a complex mosaic of tattoos branded from dust. His eyes glowed with cruel excitement.

"You've heard the drop, now it's time for the final verse!" He exclaimed, leveling the but of his stand with her face.

Daffodil rolled to the side to avoid the cannon ball of pure white dust that splashed into the mushy ground where her head once was. A wind from the earth blew her back up onto her feet, the arctic and volcanic temperatures colliding was causing the air around them to contract and expand rapidly, the air of the storm began to swirl, if this fight lasted long they could very well form a tornado.

"You like it?" The man shouted. He flexed his fairly unimpressive muscles to show off his tattoos. "A present from the old tinkerer up in Atlas. Designed with fighting just like you frail little maidens, can't just leave humanity's' salvation to some old magic now can we? Oh now that I think of it that might just be a theme floating around these days, dontcha think?"

Daffodil thrust a bolt of lightning from her left hand up into his face. The dust and aura around his face diffused the shot. He smiled and swung his stand around to hit her upside the head. Daffodil blasted upwards upon a pillar of flames and leapt down to strike again, both hands holding balls of rippling fire. The man with the tattoos countered with a legion of icicles aimed upwards. Knowing she could simply melt these projectiles she swerved and darted around them, avoiding getting hit but losing partial control and colliding on the ground besides him, leaving her back exposed.

He raised his weapon above his head, a large chunk of ice crystallizing at the base of it, and swung it downwards like a hammer beating a red hot metal. In a weakened position, Daffodil combined her two balls of fire and gambled on a point blank range assault and met his oncoming sphere of cold. The two conflicting forces collided and the stark difference in temperature caused an explosion that sent both parties flying.

Daffodil cringed as frostbite nipped at her hands through her radiant aura. An uncomfortable new fog spread across the battlefield from the instantaneously melted ice. The very ground around her appeared to be at war with itself, ever solidifying ice and earth attempted to claim the bubbling sea of melted land that in turn tried to drag its opponent down into its pool of warmth.

Another drop in temperature, this time from the right. She raised another ball of fire just in the nick of time to block a punch layered with ice. Another cloud of fog enshrouded her. He was blinding her. Taking a guess at his strategy, she jumped and narrowly avoided the swing of his mic stand that would have swept her off her feet. She could see the faint glow of his tattoos within the fog. A bolt of lighting was summoned to her left hand, she threw it and connected. He stumbled backwards, this one had an effect, however negligible it was.

She used the chance to retreat, for a moment the man didn't retaliate, the temperature seemed to rise again, albeit slowly. Daffodil smiled.

This power you have, it's just a cheap knock off of mine, it's influence is already giving away to my fire!"

The crack then sizzle of a sheet of ice and dirt falling into the soup of melted earth punctuated her point.

A hissing sound. More icicle spears. This again? Confidence growing, she grabbed one with her bare left hand while spinning in place to dodge the other. Her hand shook slightly at the freezing cold touch but quickly steadied as the mass fell between her fingers and plopped unceremoniously onto the ground.

The mist began to thin, the man made his move. One final salvo made up of a dozen gargantuan shards that shot towards her. She backhanded the first that reached her then filled her palms with fames once again. She gripped the tips of the next two, they dissipated before her skin as if her hands were shredders eviscerating paper. She ducked beneath the next three but backflipped onto of the seventh, using its form as a stepping stone to push off of and leap over icicles eight and nine and crash into ten. She rose to her feet and backhanded the eleventh just like the first. The Twelfth collided with her chest. She didn't flinch, her aura only depleting by a small percentage.

" _How marvelous"_ the ghostly feminine voice cheered with glee.

The male voice did what sounded like a huff. " _Grimm hoggle, if I were but a thousand years younger and had some meat on my bones I would have done that WITHOUT the help of the bleeding dead."_

The man had left his position while she was attack. He had circled around to her left while surfing on a stream of ice that threatened to turn to a weak slush underneath him.

"You little bi-"

Daffodil swung an inflamed right hand that slapped him in the face with the heat of ten thousand branding irons. The tattoos on his left cheek burned away and left a welt of red hot flesh. He squealed in a particularly unmanly fashion and careened into the ground twenty yards away into the section of ground that wasn't either melting, burnt, or currently on fire.

She panted heavily, as much as she hated to admit it, that fight took the breath out of her, but she couldn't relax yet. She steeled her aura as it flowed with the blessings of the souls of old and encircled the unwavering pulse of the maiden.

"Well that was _particularly_ barbaric don't you think. I mean a slap! Really Daffodil?"

She turned to seem Jacob step towards her circle of hellscape, his hands resting of on the sheath of _Heradine_. His face as calm adorned with a proper smile as always.

She lowered into a battle stance. "Take one step closer and I burn you alive."

An audible groan escaped his mouth, his face growing no sign of loosing it's politeness otherwise. "I guess that means I have to get my hands dirty after know I truly hoped we could have resolved this peacefully, you an me. It could have been just like the old days, back when you were my student and I was living the dream as a teacher."

A fond remembrance entered his eyes for a brief moment before shriveling up to resemble his soul. "But no, It looks like greater responsibility, my need to fulfil it and your need to run from it, drives us apart."

He followed her lead and entered his battle stance. "Well? En Garde old friend."

Daffodil sighed.

 _Goodbye master, you old fallen fool._

She burst forward, an entire realm of blistering fire trailed behind her as if she were ripping open the veil between the world of the living and the world of hell, the world that would be all their futures if Salem were to win. The two collided, and then, it was over.

She flew past him, her attack, a blast of concentrated fire from her fist, veered off course and hit a tree, burning it down. Jacob had nudged her arm to the side ever so slightly, causing the attack and her whole body to shift to the side. His flame retardant gloves blocked the brunt of the attack yet the whole sleeve of her arm was burnt away and spots that looked like severe burns dotted his exposed skin.

His face showed no sign of pain, instead she saw distaste. "How wasteful" He mttered.

Daffodil's eyes glanced towards his outstretched hand, Heradine shone in the brilliance of the fires around them, a streak of blood running down it's side.

All at once her aura vanished, the maiden's soul went silent, and the burning fire within was smothered.

" _Oh phoy"_ Said the Feminine voice.

" _I said we shouldn't have bothered."_ Replied the masculine voice.

Daffodil collapsed to the singed ground, defeated. The winner was Jacob.

…

"Somebody had a lot of time on their hands down here" whispered Blake as she looked upwards.

In their search for their friends the three of them had found their way to what appeared to be the remains of a raised garden above the city streets and junctions of commerce. All the plants were long dead and reduced to lumps of grey dust indistinguishable from the dried up soil in their cracked pots.

The three were staring up at one of the nine murals they had seen from the entrance, the large building they were standing in front of had blocked their view of it before but now it was perched right in front of them, the fifth in the sequence.

An older man lay huddled on in the corner, he was painted in stark silver with only slots for his eyes with tiny silver dots for wizard , the original silver eyed warrior. Beside him, shielding him, was a small army of humans clad in shimmering armor, eyes simple slots as well with the same silvery dots in the center. In front of them, leading what looked like a charge, were four women drawn in vibrant blues, oranges, greens, and yellows. Each one held a simple sword in their hands while sparkling crystals of dust seemed to float around them. The original four maidens. Accompanying them was a single man, one with massive black armor with murky eyes contrasting those of the silver held by his soldiers. A general, this one was surrounded by a thin wall of shifting black mist and held in his left hand a decrepit phantom of a scythe.

The actors of the portrait were indeed charging towards the far right, at the border of the mural was a deep shadow of dark black and violet red. The beady eyes of grimm dotted the void, all surrounding a vaguely human figure at the front.

"That right there is the Last Stand, another crucial moment deemed trivial by man yet vital for survival." Said a voice.

Edna. The three got ready for a fight as they scanned their surroundings for the headmaster. Somehow she had appeared silently behind them and was sitting in a stone chair, one that looked a thousand years old, she played with the curls of her hair with her left hand as she playfully spun her ginormous staff around the pinky of her right.

She rolled her eyes. "Weapons again."

"We're tired of playing games Edna! Tell us what you know NOW! What the hell is Raven trying to accomplish?" Ruby yelled as forcefully as she could despite her tired state.

Edna rolled her eyes again and sighed. "Save the world of course, Salem won't need to destroy the world if we just hand it to her like good little humans."

"But you're not human, you're a faunus!" Blake called out.

Edna's face twisted in annoyance and her reptilian eyes unnervingly blinked sideways.

"Irrelevant, now enough with the questions you're not students anymore after all, you're bleeding drop-outs now!"

She smiled. "Or more precisely, traitors and enemies of the state."

Between quick blinks she flung her staff from her finger at a swift, aura propelled, speed that slammed headlong into Ruby who managed to avoid a direct hit with her skull with a well timed block.

Not letting their opponent get the drop on them, Weiss and Blake charged at her while she was unarmed. Edna jumped up and casually ripped her chair from the floor beneath it with an aura enhanced grip and chucked it towards Blake who leapt over it leaving behind a shadow clone to take the hit. She got in close to her and began swinging in a flurry of attacks. Either from her fatigue from the illusion earlier or Edna's sheer skill Edna managed to gracefully dodge every hit like a ballerina spinning around her dance partner. She let out a gentle chuckle of amusement as she dashed around a wide arc from black and broke into an elegant sprint past her.

Weiss stepped in to intercept her with a jab of her rapier. Edna ducked to the side and kicked Weiss hard to the side of her stomach, spinning in a three-sixty on the tip of her shoe as Weiss staggered back into place, Blake backing her up. Ruby recovered from the first attack and ran in to attack from behind.

Edna used her aura enhanced limbs to backflip over her as she swung her scythe. She landed next to her discarded staff and clutched it back into her hand before turning back to her adversaries who were already charging in a trident formation towards her in a desperate scramble. She could see it in their eyes, they knew they were outmatched, outmatched yet still determined to fight on despite the odds, it turned Edna's stomach. So youthful, so naive, this innocence would mean humanities' end. Unless Raven had her way. Edna smirked again. Raven always had her way.

The three dived forward in a frenzy. Ruby swung, Blake Chopped, Weiss stabbed. A simple spin of her staff negated the three pronged assault. A follow up swing would have taken them all to the ground if Weiss hadn't managed to block it with a wall of ice generated by a spin of her dust cartridge barrel. Edan's staff lodged itself into the improvised shield, leaving her open for just a moment. It was enough, Ruby flipped her Scythe around so the barrel of the sniper faced Edna's abdomen. She pulled the trigger and Edna went flying a short distance away.

She cursed and scrambled to her feet, somehow still retaining her lady like poise. She glared at the trio before her, that wasn't very ni-"

They wouldn't let her finish, instead they seized the ground Edna left behind and surged forward with reckless abandon.

"Oh bother" Edan muttered under her breath.

Edna ran towards them as they approached and effortlessly weaved her way through an all side slash fest of aura humming blades until she found herself stepping confidently up to her embeded staff leaving a confused threesome of huntresses bewildered at how they hit nothing but air.

Edna tugged gently on the hilt of her weapon and allowed her aura to flow through the obsidian lining of it's fanciful structure. The energy entered the dust stone at the top logged in the ice and it up, shattering the wall around it.

She returned her gaze to the others as they geared up for yet another attack. "Well now that you've shown me that you have no hope of beating me, or even giving me a proper fight, I guess I'll just pull the plug and be done with this."

Edna cleared her throat and closed her eyes. Team RWBY exchanged looks of perplexity and back away slightly to give her a wide berth, Edna was a headmaster after all, and there was no telling what she was planning.

Edan began to sing.

" _Mirror, Mirror tell me something…"_

Weiss dropped to her knees and clutched her head. "No, no, no."

Ruby and Bake dropped their guards. "Weiss what's wrong?" Blake asked, worry embedded on her face. Ruby ran to her and attempted to calm her down by putting her arm around her, a gesture she violently rejected as she knocked her to the ground with a sudden twitch.

" _Mirror tell me who's the loneliest…"_

Weiss' gaze grew increasingly vacant. "No, no, no, no, no, no."

" _Of all."_

Her fit stop and her head lolled downwards, her bangs covering her eyes. "I am the loneliest of all." She said, her voice devoid of all emotion, as if it were an artificial one and not her own.

Edna's eyes fluttered open. "Well I'll be damned, ol' Aibori's little magic trick actually works. Now Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee family."

She gestured to Blake. "Eliminate the threat to your family."

Without another word Weiss leapt forward, her eyes a glazed white, and attack Blake.

The startled faunus failed to defend in time and found herself taking the full brunt of a dust powered slash from The Heiress' rapier. Blake slammed into the group and went skidding across the garden.

Ruby, unable to process what had just transpired, didn't notice as Edan ran up to her and smacked her upside the head with the glowing top of her staff with an aura powered swing. The young huntress lost consciousness immediately and crashed to the ground.

"Oh dear. I hope I didn't damage the goods, well can't help it now, off to the bug jar then!"

She hoisted Ruby's limp form onto her shoulder and waved towards Weiss, be a good dear and kill the faunus for me. After that meet up with ol Em if she's still kicking and kill the rest. Wait no leave the Bimbo alive, THEN kill the rest."

The Heiress nodded absently.

"Creepy that." Edan muttered. She gave a sarcastic salute to a stunned Blake who was scrambling to her feet. "Ta-ta Catnip."

And with that she vaulted herself over the railing and into the city streets, leaving Blake alone with a friend that was about to kill her.

"Weiss what the hell are you-"

The Heiress ran forward for another attack, her eyes still soulless. She struck forward with a stab of her rapier with far more raw force than Blake had ever known her to posses. She blocked with the sheath of her blade which nearly broke in two then continued her retreat.

 _I can't hurt Weiss! But I can't let myself get killed, and Ruby…_

"Weiss please I know you're in there!"

The Heiress stared her down, a face of stone unchipped save for her single scar across her eye that seemed infinitely more noticeable than before.

Another uncharacteristically strong jab, Blake barely managed to parry it but almost buckled under its strength. _No choice left, sorry Weiss._

The next strike came this time propelled by one of her glyphs, Blake glided to the right and left behind a clone of shadow. The moment The Heiress' attack made contact with it a tomb of rock surrounded her weapon. A dust fusion trap, Weiss' idea. The Heiress showed no reaction, only a swift flick of the arm to break her blade free in an instant. Luckily, that was all Blake needed to step into her guard and knee The Heiress hard in the abdomen.

The Heiress went soaring into the railing at the end of the garden, cracking it. For a moment Blake thought she had knocked her unconscious, Weiss was always on the squishier side even with her aura in full force.

The Heiress rose to her meet with refined poise, not the slightest bit shaken by the rather brutal attack. She tapped the tip of Mytenaster to the ground summoning a massive glyph decorated with rotating ethereal swords.

The Heiress gazed up at Blake, any semblance of the persnickety yet endearing girl was gone and replaced with, well, what Blake always imagined The Heiress to the company that brought so much pain and suffering down upon her race would be, a cold unfeeling automaton.

"Go guardian." Her voice was hollow and lifeless. "Exterminate."

With a flash of blinding white light the form of a dazzling knight in shining armor rose from the glyph. Blake was awestruck. Weiss had said she hadn't mastered summoning yet, so she had never seen it in person, but, dear god it was just so beautiful. Sadly, the most beautiful thing Blake had ever seen was naturally about to kill her.

The knight drew it's blade, which Blake guessed was about twice her size, and proceeded to stampede towards her. Blake frantically ran from the lumbering paladin with all the grace of a chicken with it's head cut off. _Running huh Blake? Wow, so original._ She thought to herself.

She ducked and averted a few close calls of the titan's Aurasteel blade nearly removing her ears, both cat and human. _Why do I have two sets again?_

Another swing, this time Blake needed to drop a clone to push her forward. She glanced over her shoulder for just a moment to see the blade slicing, or more like crushing, her doppelganger, the grisly sight certainly put a second wind behind her. She was running low on aura and needed to conserve her power, right now she estimated she'd only be able to use a few more clones. Another swing, Blake could almost feel this one, it's humming energy nipping the trailing strands of her hair. With how poorly her trusty plan of running from her problems was going she elected to use the last of her strength fighting back.

Blake tossed her Gambol Shroud around a chunk of rock lying abandoned in the middle of the ancient garden and circled it. Using her momentum, she flung herself back toward the knight, gliding across the ground on her knees until she went straight through the gap between it's legs. Now in his blind spot, Blake slashed its achilles heels in an attempt to topple it. Sadly the being made of pure energy didn't have a body that operated according to human weakness. It swung it's broadsword around in a circle as it turned around to face it's enemy again. Blake cursed a rolled away from the oncoming blade. She crouched on the ground, summoned another shadow behind her, and used it to throw her upward towards the knight's head.

She grabbed onto its helm and found something solid to grasp. _Thank god. If this thing were able to massacre me and be intangible to the touch at the same that would be just downright unfair._

Shifting to gun mode, Blake aimed her weapon into the slit Knight's helm and fired away. Thankfully this attack seemed to do some damage. The Knight stumbled backwards, slamming his blade into the ground for stability. The beast was silent, not a single groan of pain. Instead he rose back to his feet and reached up to grab Blake from his visor. Blake panicked, sending another salvo of bullets into his apparent weak spot, this time it barely did anything.

Blake let go of her grip to avoid being squished by it's colossal hand and somehow managed to land on her feet. She didn't have time to celebrate however as the knight once again tried to slice her open with the swing of it's blade.

 _Not working, this thing is practically invincible, there is only one thing left I can do._

Her gaze shifted towards The Heiress. She stood tall and motionless, barely even blinking, creating such a powerful being out of raw aura must have been draining on the caster, forcing them to remain still.

Blake made a reckless rush towards her, blades drawn and aura pulsing.

The Heiress' sedentary gaze snapped to Blake as she flowed into a battle stance. The glyph beneath her dulled slightly. Blake threw her Gambol Shroud forward on it's thick black string. The Heiress refused to move forward to engage, wishing to force Blake on the offensive the whole fight and tire her to her breaking point. Blake triggered her semblance and pulled back on the ribbon of her weapon, sending it flying back to her after pulling its trigger. The bullet of Earth dust merged with her aura and a statue of Blake made from hard stone went barreling forward.

For the first time since she awoken The Heiress showed an emotion beyond eerie calm, slight surprise. The slightest hesitation on how to respond was enough for the statue going at the speed of a high caliber bullet to collide with her. Her blade was knocked from her hand and she sprawled to the ground, her aura flickering ever so slightly.

Blake saw a flash of white light peak out of the corner of her eye. The Knight was upon her. She heard the swish of the air through her sensitive ears just in time to dodge, no need to even look at it. A the blade passed beneath her she looped her Blade's string around it and latched on. The Knight tried to clumsily toss her off. It no longer moved with the knowing precision as before, it must have required constant guidance by it's caster, quite the large chink in the armor of something so grand and majestic.

Blake used the momentum of its rapid attempts at shaking her free to launch herself at The Heiress who was dragging herself her feet. The two collided, knocking The Heiress down once again with a loud thud. Her aura flashed again and for the briefest moment her eyes reverted to that of Weiss only to be immediately returned to a pair cold and unfeeling voids.

The two grappled on the ground as they tried to pin each other. Both were clearly drained and exhausted, despite the influx of aura that came with whatever was triggered within her by Edna's song, The Heiress' reserves were lower than Blake's. Realizing that she could very well lose this fight, The Heiress let another emotion through her facade, anger.

" _I won't let you chain me again. The Schnee lineage. It lives through ME."_

Her incredible strength, something Wiess could never have hopped to match, no matter how much training she could go through.

Blake's could feel her own strength giving way as The Heiress gained the upper hand.

" _The Guardians, they shall return, this world, shall be protected once more by the eternal glow of Dust."_

Blake was soundly toppled now, The Heiress' hands now making their way to her throat to strangle her. "Weiss" She whispered.

The Heiress showed yet another emotion. A sadistic grin encroached upon her face. " _Weiss, so that is this Squire's name. Weiss, a blank white canvas. Perfect. The artistry of humanity's' salvation shall be draw upon her. The Dust speaks, it shall save us from the darkness with it's light, it shall save us from ourselves, from our savage lessers."_

She leaned down closer to Blake's face as she squeezed her neck. Fourth emotion. Spite. " _I will succeed where The Wizard has failed. It shall save us, We shall save us, We will save us from you, Faunus, child of filth, scion of demons!"_

The Blake clone turned to stone. The Heiress' eyes widened. The real Blake slammed the but of her weapon into her head from behind. With a jolt her aura popped and The Heiress' eyes fell closed and she slumped to the ground.

Blake fell to the ground next to her, panting heavily as she used what little strength she had to hold her own aura together. She heard a loud thump. To her horror the knight remained standing. It was flickering now, the defeat of it's master slowly unanchoring it from the physical plane. Yet still with it's last moments it lumbered forward.

For the first time Blake could see it's eyes, two perfectly spherical stones of dust and aura that glittered like stars, like moons unbroken and complete. Yet there was something underlying their brilliance, a deep, unwavering power that fed their perfection. A feeling as cold and immovable as stone, she knew this feeling all too well, the feeling she felt float off her brother and Adam. Hatred. Pure, raw, and unchained.

The titan roared with a deep, primordial voice. It bounded towards her, it's last moments of power fueled on the endless sea of hatred that churned within it, within whatever monster lurked within Weiss' soul.

Blake couldn't move, her energy spent and her aura barely holding together.

"I'm sorry Weiss, I couldn't keep my promise." She thought in despair.

A ball of fire streaked from overhead and punctured the Knight's fading chest. It growled again as it's whole body dissipated. The ball of fire cooled and a person looked over towards her. Yang.

The blonde called to her but her voice was lost to Blake, just a muted echo from far away, other echos followed, ones she could only assume were the rest of the gang.

"They found each other, that's great." Is what she was suppose to think, yet Blake wasn't able to focus on them. Instead her attention remained transfixed on the Knight.

It was nothing but a collection of Willo-Wisps that danced and fluttered further apart from each other. All except for the eyes. The Eyes remained, floating there, ever hating in their perfection until they crumbled into nothingness in an instant, still the cold remained.

Blake head lolled backwards and hit the freezing stone of the long dead gardens. Her vision blurred and the echos grew more distant. Above her she saw the stalagmites of crystallized dust protruding from the cavern's ceiling like chandeliers of nature's glory. Only now they weren't the timeworn menagerie of rainbows that she saw upon arriving at time's forgotten speck of civilization long lost, now they were a uniform stark white. White as the eternal snow of Atlas, White as the empty eyes of The Heiress.

With one last twitch of her faunus ears before consciousness left her she thought she heard a whisper emerge from the echos, an elderly spat from the dust itself. It spoke one word to her.

" _Filth."_

 **Next Time Chapter 34: Keep Moving Forward**

 **Great news guys! I just made a twitter account as a hub for all my current and future** **updates** **to this fic and any future works I plan to create (** **perhaps** **even a book I may or not be planning to write named "Moonriders"). It's called ZireksWrites or writes_zireks**


	38. Chapter 34: Keep Moving Forward

**Chapter 34: Keep Moving Forward**

Raven thought her first job as a huntress would smell of something different than corpses baking in the desert sun. She wasn't naive of course, she knew there would be death, but, wow.

She sat on a withered ancient stump and dragged a dirtied cloth across her katana, hoping to remove the blood before it dried in the Vacuan heat. About a dozen yards to her left lay Vacuo's most wanted criminal, Vermillion Oxblood, in a crumpled mess of his own bones and blood.

Her twin brother Qrow sauntered around the corner, took one look down at the glob of flesh discarded for the vultures to feast on, and sighed. "I highly doubt that was necessary." He said, tired, yet still managing to muster up some sass.

Raven glanced over at her victim then towards her brother. As much as she berated him for his scruffy looks he was relatively handsome. Thick black hair, strong chin, and a muscular youthful build. Despite the ghastly heat and the bitter fighting he still managed to maintain an aloof charm. She could almost see what Summer saw in him, almost.

"Come to sulk with me and not your girlfriend?"

"Ex-girlfriend."

"That never stopped you in second year with little Goody-witch."

Qrow sighed, his eyes gravitating back towards Vermillion and groaned. "I guess we won't be bringing him in alive."

"He pushed me to my limit, in the last moment it was either him or me."

Qrow gave her a sceptical glare. "Yeah, sure."

He didn't get it. Some people in this world just need to die. The Headmaster knew this but still told them to hold back, damn that Oz. She lifted her blade, _Yozomai_ into the air to inspect it. The sun's anger glinted off its Scarlet surface. In its deep hue she could see the reflection of her own face. As much as she hated his jabs at her appearance she was beginning to see bags forming under her eyes and-dust was that the start of a wrinkle under her right eye? Well it didn't matter, huntsmen and huntresses aged quickly, that was the price she would be willing to pay for this job. The only job worth having in such a broken, stunted world.

Raven took another glance at Qrow and her eyes widened. "Qrow, what the hell are you drinking?"

Qrow quickly moved to hide a small silver container behind his back. "Nothing."

Raven frowned, no doubt worsening her potential wrinkles. "Give it."

Qrow let out an elongated sigh of resignation and handed her a flask of whiskey.

"And you had this why?"

"Qrow smirked, well it just so happens that yesterday was my birthday, sooo-" He snatched the flask from her hand, "For the second time in my life I get to proudly say the words, I'm legal."

Before Raven could object further he downed a gulp of the Alcoholic liquid then grimaced. "Gah, it burns."

Raven rolled her eyes. "There you tried it and didn't like it, now give."

Qrow jerked his hand backwards to keep the flask from her then downed another shot. "Nah, I think I kinda like it, really cleanses the palate after-" He gestured to the smear of human remains with a grunt.

He went in for another drink when Raven grabbed his hand. "Qrow-"

"Relax, I won't end up like dad."

Raven shook her head and let go. "Let's go find everyone else."

Qrow glanced at his flask then placed it in his pocket with a shrug and filed in behind his sister as they strolled into Vermillion's camp, taking in the carnage at a slow and leisurely pace. If someone asked Raven what the three most destructive forces on Remnant were she would reply without hesitation; tsunamis, Grimm, and Huntsmen. The large compound was littered with the bodies of bandits in various stages of dismemberment and nearly every makeshift building was either a pile of rubble or a raging fire. The stench of death permeated through the air and intermingled with that of billowing smoke.

At the far end of the camp she saw a woman in a thin white cloak huddled up against a palm tree overlooking the great expanse of Vacuo's endless desert. Raven shook her head. "Getting emotional on the job as always."

Qrow put his hand on Raven's shoulder. "Not everyone can be as detached as you are, just give her some time to process everything."

A strapping young man with sandy blonde hair like a surfer sauntered up next to Summer and leaned against the tree she had chosen as her hiding place. Tai, Raven twitched with annoyance.

Qrow smirked. "So I guess I'm not the only one having relationship troubles?"

"Suck a dick brother."

Qrow chuckled to himself. "Man Tai really is trying to make good on that whole "Entire Team" promise he made."

"Like I said, suck a dick."

Qrow shook his head. "Guess I walked into that one."

A loud crash and a shout came from the center of camp. Knowing their well intended yet utterly oblivious teammates probably hadn't heard it, The Branwen Twins quickly went to investigate.

Rounding the edge of the shallow oasis the camp was built upon they entered the gates to what the bandit camp had built itself around, the battle arena. Bones and severed skin tanned to look like leather lined the edges of the makeshift coliseum as well as the massive flesh banner that flew over a bone throne where Vermillion had no doubt sat during their games.

Qrow eyed the decorum with revulsion. "How this place wasn't swarming with grimm is beyond me."

Raven didn't so much as blink upon entering and continued forward. "The desert was a natural barrier, besides this was the strongest bandit tribe in all of Vacuan territory. Nothing short of a small horde of grimm could have toppled this place."

Her eyes locked on what she assumed was the source of the sound. "That's why they sent us."

At the far side of the arena lounged two members of the other team that had accompanied them on the mission, Team MLAC (Malachite). Raven never liked these two, but then again she never liked anyone.

"Anyone gonna tell me what that noise was?"

One of the members of team MALC, a lanky blue haired man named Azure, gave Raven a carnivorous glare. "Well if it isn't our bloodthirsty little angel, come on pull up a skull and let's have a chat!"

His brother, a larger yet equally creepy man by the name of Carbuncle let out a strangled laugh at Azure's advance and offered nothing else to the conversation.

Raven grimaced. "I'm going to stop you right there. No, I will not date you, and if you ask me again I will disembowel you just like I did with Vermillion."

Azure's smile faltered. "Wait, you mean-you-you actually beat him? By yourself? By the bluest of Dust you really do live up to your own reputation little birdie."

Another crash came from an opening in the wall of the arena. A man clutching his hand, nursing what looked like a bite wound, came scrambling out. "Dammit she bit me!" He screamed.

Raven shook her head. The man in question was the senior huntsmen accompanying the two teams on their first true mission for their Fourth Year Graduation Exam. However Tange, despite being experienced as well as young, was far from a high ranking huntsman. In fact he had turned out to be so painfully average in skill that he had stayed behind the bulk of their fighting as a strategist, even then Qrow and herself had taken over that duty halfway through the battle.

The disgruntled thirty year old snarled and muttered obscenities as his aura closed up his flesh bound. "Damn dirty animal, going and biting her gift horse in the mouth, erm, hand."

He looked up at Raven and Qrow, the brother barely holding back a laugh. "He pointed at them with one of his unwounded fingers. "You two, go in there and help drag that thing out of its cage! You're both faunus, maybe you can talk some sense into your feral kin!"

Qrow rolled his eyes. Tange was referring to their hereditary semblance, the ability to transform into Crows and Ravens respectively. It didn't make them faunus themselves but during the week length of their mission Tange hadn't shown any inclination to learn from his misconception nor any hesitation at using it as an outlet for his nightly rants about the faunus and how Vermillion "wouldn't be so bad" if he had just stuck to slaving animals.

"Fine, we'll see what we can do."

"Hold up, hold up, I almost forgot." Tange fished four silvery badges from his pocket and tossed one to each of the four students in attendance. "Official certification. You guys passed. You're huntsmen. Congratulations." He said with little feeling before trudging off through the sandy arena to find Summer and Tai.

Raven turned the badge in her hand. It was shimmering brilliantly with its dust engravings interwoven with the coat of arms of all four Huntsmen Academies emblazoned upon them.

Qrow whistled. "Looks like we made it after all sis." He said this while never letting his eyes stray from the prize he held carefully in his hand. Raven wasn't sure what he saw in it, to her it was a gaudy trinket that acted as a stand in for something that held much more meaning, and much more power.

The two placed their trophies in their pockets and entered the hole in the arena wall. On the other side they found multiple rows of metal and wooden cages which they assumed were used to hold slaves the bandits had captured and forced to fight for their amusement. Mounted on the far wall of the chamber, looming above the cages, was an expansive collection of taxidermy heads of faunus. There was one for nearly every kind, even a rare falcon faunus native to the mountains of Atlas. They all stared down at the twins with unblinking eyes and dead expressions. Qrow sighed and snuck drink from his flask.

Raven almost called him out on it but her attention was drawn away by another crash. At the end of the room she saw the other two members of team MLAC, a pair of faunus by the names of Magenta and Lilac huddled around a hole in the wall. There was shattered glass strewn about the floor.

Lilac looked up at the new arrivals. She was a rather frail girl with a tiny mouse nose and an even smaller pink tail protruding from the small of her back. Her face was sickly pale, a result of the fighting and the rather uncomfortable decorum of the room, however a thin but warm smile spread across her face.

She spoke in a squeaky yet admittedly adorable voice. "Oh thank the Elders you're here! Please you have to help her, are arguments haven't been very-"

Magenta jumped backwards with a curse as what looked like a red vase barreled out of the hole and smashed into the ground.

Lilac sighed. "Persuasive."

Raven nodded, despite Lilac's fragile build she kept an air of strength. Because of this she respected her. She knelt down beside the hole next to MLAC leader Magenta, a feisty brawler with sharpened antlers atop her head.

"Bleeding fool, I have half a mind to-"

Raven gripped her hand as she instinctively reached for the whip at her side. "Don't escalate the situation." She demanded.

Magenta sighed and sheepishly nudged herself away from the hole. Lilac scampered over to sit with her, smiling to cheer her up. She might have been the leader of the second strongest team at Beacon but she had so little control. How she managed to stay leader for four years was beyond Raven. Then again she didn't seem to do a very good job of wrangling in the Cascade brothers. She had Lilac's support though, so that was something at least.

She inched closer to the hole. "I just want to talk." She said in as neutral a ton as possible. After a few painfully drawn out seconds Raven tentatively poked her head around the corner of the hole to peer inwards.

In the darkness was a woman about her age huddled into a fetal position as far back into the hole as she could be. She obscured her face with her filthy hair and a collection of random objects clutched to her chest.

"My name is-" The woman looked up at her with wide emerald eyes gripped with fear. She screamed horsley and lobbed a cracked wine glass at her. It flew inches from her face and shattered on ground. She didn't flinch.

"I'm not doing to hurt you."

The woman shook in terror and began sobbing. Raven turned into the hole and began inching her way towards the woman much to Qrow and the others' protest.

The woman screamed again. "Don't come any closer!" Another wine glass, this one connected with Raven's face. Her aura blocked it, she didn't blink.

The woman froze as she drew closer to her. She screamed again and pulled a knife from her tattered clothing and desperately lunged forward. Raven gently grabbed her wrist and snatched the knife from her hand. Disarmed and helpless, the woman resumed sobbing. The two sat for awhile, Raven letting her cry herself out as the Woman became comfortable with her presence.

"Who are you?" The woman finally asked.

"My name is Raven Branwen, I'm a huntsmen, and I'm going to get you out of here."

"Out?"

"The men who did this to you, they won't hurt you anymore. I promise. My friends and I are going to bring you home."

The woman let out a sob. "Home? Home? There is no Home, not anymore, not after-" Another sob. "This is...home now."

Raven shook her head. "Here, drink some water, you sound thirsty."

She pulled out her own flask, filled with water unlike the alcohol of her brother's, and handed it to her.

After brief hesitation she downed the entire flask with one gulp. Realizing her mistake of over taxing her dry throat, she began coughing violently. Raven reached out her hand and patted her on the back, this first contact she had made with her. She stopped hacking, but Raven kept hand there, patting in a slow rhythm that seemed to sooth the woman.

"You've been here a long time haven't you."

The woman made full eye contact with her for the first time, the brilliant green of her irises clashed with the redness surrounding them and black bags underneath.

"I-yes. It's been, f-f-four years. H-e-e, He m-made me fight other f-faunus. And when I didn't do well, he, he, to survive he, he-" She began sobbing again.

Raven moved closer, slinging her arm around her and tugging her into a loose embrace. "Sssh, it's ok, take your time. I know it's hard but you have to be strong."

The woman nodded. "To survive, so he wouldn't, so that I wouldn't be like them." She weakly gestured to the left, towards to the wall of disturbing trophies. "He said he liked me the most, that he, he wanted me around but I made it hard by loosing, made it hard to want me more than my-my-my trophy."

Raven pulled her ever so slightly closer. "It's ok now, you don't have to do any of that anymore, you can forge your own destiny now."

The woman looked at her bewildered. "My own...destiny?"

Raven nodded. "Your own destiny. There will always be people who will try and steer you towards what they want. People like Vermillion. But you don't need to let him control you now."

The woman shook her head. "H-how can you be so strong? How?"

Raven smiled and fished out her new badge and handed it to her. "Because I'm a huntsmen."

The woman's hands explored the groves of the trinket with awe. "A Huntsmen" she whispered to herself.

Raven patted her on the head. "You can keep that if you want, if it makes you feel more comfortable."

The woman nodded.

"Would you like your knife back too?"

"No, you keep it."

"Really?"

The woman clutched the badge close to her heart and closed her eyes as if she were trying hard to remember something. "My mother always told me that one good gift deserved another, that a kindness is wasted if it's not returned."

"She sounds wise."

"She was."

After a moment of silence Raven shifted away from the woman who inched forward towards her. She held out her hand for the woman to grasp. "I'm going to get you out of here, so please, let's start over; I am Raven Branwen, huntress of beacon and ace of Team STRQ. What is your name?"

The woman turned her new badge around in her hands before clutching it once again to her heart. She opened her eyes wide, no longer with fear but instead determination. Her eyes blinked sideways. "Edna Crimson."

Raven nodded. "Good name."

 **/**

With what remained of Team SSSN in tow, Coco had found her destination. She would go to Vacuo City, meet up with Team RWBY, and somehow manage to bring Raven and her Sentinel army crashing to the ground, easy right? It had to be, at least easier than staying and seeing the worry in Velvet's eyes.

As the four of them, tired, frustrated, and grimmly determined; snuck their way past the patrols of the outer gate and into the forest edge just outside the camp, Coco stole another glance back towards her tent. She couldn't see it obviously, it was nearly on the opposite side of the encampment, obstructed by the dozens of makeshift store houses and other soldier tents.

Neptune grabbed her lightly by the shoulder and turned her towards him, bags black as obsidian weighing down blood-shot eyes. Gods he looked even more draiend than her, what the hell was in that letter Sun left?

He spoke in a hushed tone. "Last chance to back out."

Coco's eyes darted back to look upon the camp one last time but instead got caught on a looming shape in the distance. The carcass of the White Fang outpost casted a long shadow over the whole Sentinel Compound. Naislain and Carbuncle had tried to move the army into its walls, better protected from the weather and grimm and all that. Few had the stomach to do so, the scent of smoke and death and the silenced echos still lingered like background radiation within it's forsaken hallways, eternal marks of what terrors they did there on the horrible night. The troops with stronger stomachs and greater detachment had learned, burned, and buried the bodies of the dead but it didn't make a difference. Empty or not the damned place would always be a mausoleum, one which that little girl latching onto her idol would never escape.

Coco grit her teeth to fortify her mind against the sounds of the refugees' dying screams that threatened to over take her for the hundredth time since she pulled the trigger and changed her life forever.

"I'm ready." She finally whispered, more to herself than the others.

"Great, where are we going again?"

Coco and team SSSN nearly had a collective heart attack. "Who the bloody hell was that!?" Said Scarlet, a little too loudly. He pulled out his knife and pistol while Sage reached for his broadsword.

A shadow a few feet away from them inched forward with hands up.

"Peace, peace, I come in peace my angry loners." He said as he exited the shadows and revealed his stark white eyes.

Coco jaw tightened further, this time in fury rather than pain. "Fox, I swear to whatever god may listen that I will put you six feet under ground if you don't leave right now."

Fox shrugged as usual. "Fine, I'll go, so where are we headed?"

Neptune blinked sluggishly. "We?"

Fox snickered. "Welp if you guys aren't going to point me in a way that won't lead back to my shitty bead in the barracks then I guess I'll pick the path."

He wound his arm up dramatically and pointed through the underbrush of the forest. "Away." He said facetiously before scampering silently off through the tree line.

The four of them waited in silence for a few moments before he poked his head back around the trees. "You were kinda supposed to follow me."

Coco groaned. "Fine let's get whatever you want over with."

Moving to follow her teammate into the darkness, the members of Team SSN exchanged looks of apprehension. "Should we go along?" Asked Sage.

Scarlet scratched his head. "I-I guess? I mean they are our upperclassmen." Neptune shrugged and the three fell in behind them.

Making their way through the tree line, the five eventually emptied out into a small clearing where, to their surprise, they found reinforcements.

Neon flipped from her perch on a small boulder and landed on Fox's shoulders, much to his annoyance. "There's the stragglers, never thought you'd make it."

Flynt chuckled softly as he sauntered over and hefted the brightly colored cat from Fox. Kombu and Slend, weapons at the ready, strode up behind them. Flynt gave her a salute. "Team FNKI at your disposal boss, now where too?"

"Don't forget us!" Said another voice.

Speechless, Coco glanced passed the team from Atlas to see the members of Team ABRN waiting in the wings. Reese Chloris was grinning like an idiot as usual, her excitement barely held in check by her leader, and apparently as of recently her girlfriend, Arslan. Her other teammates, Bolin and Nadir, sat with them on the ground.

"We've been waiting forever for you to show up, so where we going and who's tail do we gotta kick? To set things right?" Said Reese.

Coco fumbled over her words as she tried to process what was happening. At that moment she finally noticed Yatsuhashi leaning up against a nearby tree, a large grin stretched across his typically stoic face.

"Everyone, Yatsu, Fox, but-"

She felt familiar arms wrap around her waist from behind. Her heart quickened as a woman's head pressed against the back of her head, the light touch of rabbit ears rose against her hair. "And where did you think you were going without me?"

It was too much. Coco fell to her knees crying ugly, snotty, wheezy tears poured from her. Velvet kneeled down next to her and pulled her whole body into an embrace. "It's ok, let it out."

"I-I-I-Killed-"

"It's ok."

"I-hav-have to fix it-some-somehow."

"It's ok."

"I-I-hav-"

"To do it alone?"

"..."

"You're such an idiot Coco."

Velvet slowly removed herself from Coco and cupped her reddened face in her hands. The two held each other's gaze for what felt like ages. Eyes exhausted and strained. One from her sins and the other from looking on at the other fall.

"No matter what, no matter what happens I'll always be here for you. I didn't fall in love with you just so you could fall apart on me. I know it's hard but we can get through this, all of it, together."

She weaved her fingers through Coco's and smiled. "Please?"

Coco finally managed to stumble out a single word. "Ok."

The two rose to their feet, hands still clasped firmly together. Fox smirked and slapped Coco on the back. "Well you heard the annoying cat. Where to?"

She glanced back at Team SSN for confirmation. The now trio nodded in approval, the trace of a smile forming beneath Neptune's perpetual frown.

"All Right." She said, a fire sparkling within her once dying eyes.

"Onward, to Vacuo."

 **/**

Ruby came to as her head nearly cracked on the side of a boulder. Her blurry vision made the ground beneath her a soup of vague shapes and desaturated colors. Rope bound her limbs to her side and her legs were clenched tightly in someone's hands. She heard humming, Edna was dragging her.

Ruby closed her eyes, pretending to be unconscious. Gods her eyes felt like they were burning, throbbing to the beat that incessant thumping beneath the earth. She could feel her back unceremoniously bang against the backs of stairs, they were descending deep into the city now, towards the thumping.

"I know you're awake little one, you don't need to fake it because you are really bad at it."

Ruby begrudgingly cracked her eyelids open and let the blinding light of the dark cave stimulate her potentially concussed head. Edna glanced over her shoulder at and met her eyes. She scowled a moment then looked away, resuming her trek through the bowels of the ruins.

"Do you know what this place is child?" She said in a contemplative voice that didn't feel targeted at her captive.

"No, I don't."

Edna sighed then ruefully nodded her head. "No, of course you wouldn't, places like this are kept secret by Ozpin and his inner circle."

She turned the corner and Ruby had to squirm to the side to avoid hitting her head on a stone wall.

Edna didn't seem to notice. "This place was once known as _Cisteler_ an ancient metropolis founded by the first Spring Maiden. It was carved deep into the very earth by the first Wizard's power, one of four eternal fortresses to hold against the evils of Salem's Grimm. A Bastian, an ark for which Humanity, and a few lucky faunus would sail throughout the ages till Salem fell."

She drew her staff and smashed an old pot that lay forgotten on the unkept road. "Let's just say those plans didn't quite work out. While Salem lay trapped in the Remnant's embrace her grimm persisted. Centuries bled to millenia and the newer, weakner maidens forgot their solemn duty in their master's absence. Eventually this city and the others fell to their own strife and folly. Abandoned in favor of the barenaked world above, a world of misery."

She grit her teeth and placed her staff upon her back. Her free hand now drifting to her coat pocket where it began clutching a small object. "They had a perfect world and they just gave it away, probably from fighting the faunus, filthy animals don't know that they lost the deed to this world to us from even before the grimm tried to taken it for themselves."

She glanced back again. "Probably shouldn't have told you that, ah well, it doesn't really matter in the long run. Both humanity and the faunus squandered their chances to rule this world, it's time someone more responsible, it's time for a true visionary to steer this ark."

Ruby squinted. "Salem."

Edna let out a chuckle but quickly swallowed it. "No my dear, a God can own a world but not lead it. I am referring to Raven."

"And she isn't a human?"

"No." Edna replied with a snap as she began to frantically turn the object in her pocket around. "She is so much better."

Edna refused to continue her speech further so Ruby remained silent as she built up her aura slowly but surely. Edna seemed to have no intention of knocking her out again, probably assumed that she could easily subdue her if she needed to, aura or not. She was still underestimating her.

As time went by and Ruby finally had enough of a barrier going that she could no longer feel the bumps in the road she spent her time gazing up at the giant murals at the city's walls. They passed directly underneath the fifth mural. It was of a glistening white doorway swirling with wisps of bluish energy that looked like aura and adorned with massive gemstones of dust. The four maidens kneeled in what looked like a prayer before the wizard, an ethereal mist of magic seemed to rise from their forms and condense as chains that binded four hooded figures in black to the front of the door. Lining the door was a layer of thin black tendrils clawing at its hinges.

Edna glanced at the mural for just a moment. "The seal was never meant to hold." She looked away, contemplation in her eyes.

They eventually came upon the sixth mural. This one was a rainbow of every bright color in existence. A luminous sunset that accented the shattered moon which bared the faintest traces of red clouds and lightning that consumed it during her strange dream nights ago. Standing before it, overlooking a beautiful field with a horde of grimm dispersing with in a variety of directions, were the four maidens bidding farewell to the wizard who carried a walking stick from an old oak tree.

Edna mumbled. "Abandoned his duties, pathetic."

The seventh mural, The maidens sat larger than life on thrones of dust with circlets of fine amber, flowers, gold, and ice. Each one presided over their own section of the mural, their own city; Spring's, Cisteler, was featured far more prominently. Each throne had two men at their base, one on the right a knight in brilliant white armor with eyes mirroring that of the wizard. The Silver-Eyed warriors. To the left lurked a man in a black hood much like the four bound to the white door, this one held am ominous scythe and looked forlornly upwards to the radiance of the maiden queens, a shadow basking at its divine source.

Edna's mumbling continued. "She's better, she is better than all of us even though she is cursed, no, because she is cursed."

Next up was the eighth mural, it was similar to the seventh, though chasms formed between the maidens, the one that weren't Spring were lined with reds, black, and greys while Spring's was even more beautiful than before. Grimm and what looked like faunus bowed in fear before her. The Silver-Eyed warrior was gone and only the hooded man remained, still gazing longingly at his master.

"She will always endure even if others turn their backs."

Lastly came the ninth Mural, a grandiose outline of the Spring maiden towered over the figures of the other three maidens, who were now barely more than colored and vaguely humanoid grimm.

Edna rolled her eyes. "You'll never guess what this mural in the other cities looks like, wait you probably can."

Ruby looked over at the tenth and final mural just barely in sight. It was empty save for its number above it.

"Never got around to making that one, abandoned the city and all that."

Edna took one final turn down an extra long flight of stairs. The thumping from the ground ignited with renewed vigor, they were getting close to its source.

Edna smiled. "Just you wait little Summer Child, Raven is going to forge this world into something beautiful, a real fortress of light that can truly survive eternal darkness by standing WITH it, not against it."

They reached the bottom of the stairs as her smile grew three sizes. Ruby craned her neck to see their destination, the circular pit in the depths of Cisteler was roughly the size of one of their classrooms back at Beacon. A floor lined with carefully carved stone below a shallow pool of crystal clear water so still she wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't reflecting the light at its center.

There in the spring lay a large pedestal constructed of a strange light blue Dust with the appearance of tinted marble. Ruby blinked, it was moving. The whole surface shifted and glowed faintly without so much as a slight waver. She could almost feel the energy condensing in the stagnant air, the amount of aura stored inside of it was incalculable. Sitting atop the pedestal was a throne of crystalline Dust of every kind imaginable all beautifully crafted together. Despite this it seemed mundane compared to what lay beneath it, almost lifeless. It wasn't glowing, it was simply lurking in shadows as if it were waiting for something.

"Finally" Edna said.

Ruby's aura was now at a decent level, she could use her Speed to retreat up the stairs far faster than Edna and loose her in Cisteler's labyrinthine streets. It was now or never. Ruby knew she couldn't break free of Edna's aura enhanced grip easily so she channeled her Aura and her Speed int her upper body. She flung herself from the ground and onto Edna's back with a single violent thrust.

Edna growled in annoyance and fell off balance for just a moment. Ruby pushed her advantage farther and ripped her opponent's staff from her back and threw it into the pool, it's pristine watters shattering loudly as it thumped against the ground beneath it.

Edna reached up to grab her, releasing her grip and giving Ruby another opening. She launched herself from her back and landed with a run upon the stair case. Bolting upwards she reached the top of the stairs and the narrow roads of the underbelly in seconds. Risking running into a dead end for the same of distancing herself from Edna she picked a random direction and gunned it. Yards away she turned another corner and everything went black.

Ruby's eyes fluttered open and she found herself tied to the throne of Dust from the pedestal from below. Edna leaned lazily against her staff, her eyes glowing brightly in the dark, illuminating a mischievous grin.

"Nice try Summer Child, but not good enough."

She waltzed closer towards Ruby, her eyes looking more animalistic by the second. "Now, open the gate."

Ruby grit her teeth "No."

Edna chuckled then repeated her order with the snap of her finger. Suddenly a drowsiness fell over Ruby. Her eyelids drooping but not shutting. Her vision grew fuzzy and the glow of Edna's eyes brightened. "Open it." Another snap.

Ruby's own eyes began to glow silver and her hands clutched at the armrest of the throne. The Dust began to dimly glow and the pedestal brightened.

Ruby struggled but her body wouldn't respond.

Edna rolled her enthralling eyes. "You think you can resist the will of a headmaster? My _Hypnosis_ might not be as impressive as whatever Ivory did to his daughter but it works well enough on someone as weak as you."

Ruby tried to scream but her lips remained locked. Her left hand began to rise and curl till it held it's pointer finger outstretched and began drawing a silver glyph upon it's armrest. She could hear a whispering in the back of her head, coming from the font of auric energy residing in the Pedestal.

" _So a Silver Knight has finally returned to the abode of the soul. Hmm, you brought company, how unfortunate."_

Ruby pulled hard against her body, her hand hesitated above the half finished glyph before continuing.

Edna shook her head. "Pathetic, you remind me of-" A bolt of lightning struck the pool of water beneath her. Her whole body glowed with blue energy and she shrieked in pain as she fell to the ground.

The Lightning dissipated and Edna's dazed rise to her feet was halted by a flying Mercury who barreled in from stage left and smashed feet first into her chest. Ruby's daze fled from her mind as Yang launched into view to follow up Mercury's assault.

Ren leapt to Ruby's side and began cutting through her bindings. Nora, whose aura was still shining from her projectile, jumped into the group assault against Edna with Jaune and Ciel at her back. All of them had survived the horrors of Cisteler's illusions. A genuine look of concern seemed to leak through Edna's arrogant persona. They could win this.

The ropes fell loose yet Ruby still found herself stuck against the surface of the throne. Ren looked at her with confused worry. "Just go help them, I'll deal with this on my own." She commanded.

Ren nodded and dashed off into the massive melee that splashed through the tight arena. Edna had regained her composure from the surprise attack and was putting her title of headmaster to the test. She swung her enormous w staffith the ease of plastic toy and the precision of a duelist's rapier. Despite contending with six opponents at once she kept their relentless onslaught at bay with a tempest of parries and faints that turned her foes' most conservative of jabs into exploitable openings.

A powerful crack on his skull sent Mercury rolling into the water beneath him, leaving a dent in the hard stone below it. He backed away from the brawl as he pulled himself to his feet, his Aura flashing briefly. A similar smack of her staff swept Nora's legs out from under her and exposed her to a direct and painful hit on her stomach pushing her into the ground with concentrated force.

Ren twirled to the side and went in for a double slash in what he presumed was her blindspot. However, being one of the most skilled huntsman in the world meant that any blindspot she seemed to have was merely another in a long string of endless fake outs. Edna raised her staff from Nora's abdomen and spun it behind her to slap Ren to the side without so much as looking at him.

A recovered Mercury and fired up Yang charged forward with mirrored stances, Merc going low and Yang going high, an attack that left no opening. Edna effortlessly dispatched the two with a wide arc of her weapon. The brawlers pulmeted back into the water. Their Auras flickering like mad.

Edna moved into a new stance lower to the ground and held her weapon horizontally behind her, an old tribal faunus battle stance. One for a predator on the offensive. Edna charged at Ren and Nora who struggled to avoid her attacks while giving up what precious little ground the had. Nora used all her strength in an attempt to block one of her strikes. However they were simply too strong and the pink haired warrior found herself careening into the wall of the chamber. Calm and collected Ren managed to keep his attention away from his beaten friend and focus on keeping himself in fighting condition. Sliding backwards to the rim of the circle he made an opening for Ciel and Jaune.

She anticipated the strategy and went in for her own attack. Jaune's Reflection Semblance activated and a ghostly projection of a shield erupted from his orange and yellow Aura. Edna scowled and used her own Aura to cushion the acceleration of her strike. It still connected and she winced in pain from the effectual recoil.

Ciel roundhouse kicked the Headmaster upside the head causing her to stumble forwards. Edna used this momentum to push Ciel to the side with a swing of her fist but was forced into giving a legitimate opening for Jaune and Ren to take advantage of.

Jaune thrusted his sword towards her gut and Ren slashed at her knees. Her carefully trained Aura was to strong for them to pierce but drained it enough to aggravate her. Careful not to get greedy, the two backed off as Edna regained her footing and allowed Ciel to leap back into her still slightly open guard. Her wristwatch opened up and deployed a bright red dust powered blade. Edna cursed as she barely managed to block it.

Jaune and Ren moved back into to keep up the pressure and forced her back Nora, Merc, and Yang had all recovered themselves and returned to the fight. For the first time since the fiits ginning Ruby's friend's seemed to have the upper hand. However once again the tides began to shift.

"ENOUGH!" Bellowed Edna, slamming the butt of her staff down into the stone below her. The sphere attop her staff lit up with Auric energy and the shockwave blasted the pool of water into the air. The wall of liquid slammed into the gang with enough force to give it the surface tension of a stone wall, knocking them all off their feet.

Scrambling backwards, Nora drew upon what precious little aura she still held and prepared another lighting bolt. Edna's eyes roared to life with an entire spectrum of emerald shadings. She began to hiss like a snake and snapped her fingers rhythmically, each interval releasing a faint pulse of aura into the atmosphere around them. The free aura trailed around Nora nearly invisible. Nora's muscles began to relax as tension left them. The fierce determination in her eyes began to ebb away till finally her head lawled backwards as she entered the same sleep like trance Ruby had fallen under.

Her hands fell into a puddle of water next to her and her lighting shot into the moist droplets falling through the air. The sting of electricity hit everyone in the arena, despite the pain, Edna grinned. She turned towards Ruby, her smile wide as her face could stretch, forked tongue sticking through her pearly white teeth mounted beneath her demonic eyes. It was at this moment Ruby knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that they would lose this fight.

Ren stumbled over towards Nora and desperately tried to wake her from her daze. With ultimately waisted valiance Mercury rushed towards Edna with reckless abandon, leaving all self preservation instincts behind. Edna tried to use her Semblance on him but failed to break through his frenzied disposition. He delivered a kick to her side with all his strength and gaining a flinch from her in response before she swept him to the side, shattering his Aura.

Yang roared with unbridled fury as her own Semblance kicked into its highest gear and she rocketed into one last confrontation with a punch that could fracture diamonds. Edna met her head on with a block of her staff. Even a headmistress didn't have to raw power to stop a freight train like super-Yang and only managed to even the struggle by tapping into her Aura gem once more. Bolting to the side, Edna broke the clash and fell back into her stance. Glowing with power, Yang followed suit. Jaune deployed his own semblance once more and Ciel activated her bizarre tattoos, filling her with the elemental strength of lightning.

Ruby felt completely helpless to stop them. Her entire body was still bonded with the throne of the gate though an immense energy. The voice form before spoke to her again.

" _Why have you stopped opening the portal Silver Knight? Have you not come to damn us after all?"_ The strange primordial amalgamation of voices spoke directly into her mind.

Ruby pulled on her invisible restraints. "Of course not, let me go so I can save my friends!"

Yang's semblance was petering out and Edna toppled her with a quick flurry of jabs that nearly broke the few drops of aura she was left with. Jaune swung hacked and slashed with his sword but only met air as Edna dodged. She smacked him in the head with her staff and pushed him back without triggering his semblance. Ciel pushed forward with surging electricity but Edna kept her distance. Breaking into quick sprints to avoid bolts of lightning and kiting in for small hit here and there that would eventually bring her to her knees.

"SET ME FREE!"

She Voices mumbled as if talking to themselves. " _You do not know how to stop it yourself?"_ Ruby pulled again. "Of course not!"

More muttering. " _If we release you from the bond there is no guarantee you or anyone here will survive. Does the young Knight of Silver agree to these terms?"_ Ruby looked back at the fight.

Edna continued to pound away at Jaune's defenses till he fell to his knees, turtled beneath his own shield. Ciel tried with all her might to force Edna from her friend but offered nothing more than a meager distraction. The figure of grand power that had demanded such attention back in the battle of against Azure was barely more than a fly to Edna, the second strongest huntress in the world.

"It's the only chance I've got."

" _Very well Knight of Silver, do try not to die on us."_

The bond holding her to the throne burst and a shockwave of energy shot through the ruins of the entire city, shaking the mountain, dropping dozens of large Dust crystals from the high ceiling and sending them crashing into decrepit buildings below with a cascade of explosions.

Jaune and Ciel fell backwards to the ground and Edna barely managed to stay up straight. She looked on at Ruby, her eyes growing wide with fear.

Ruby stumbled forward into the puddles of water, eyes burning and sight fuzzing. The well of power pent up within the portal's surface had infused with her body upon release. Holding her hand upwards she could see a thick Silver aura enshrouding her entire being. The power, she could feel an emotion connected to it, a soul. Trapped under a spell for thousands of years yearning to be used, to fight. It threatened to tear her fragile mortal body to pieces.

Edna grit her teeth and resumed her battle stance yet again, this time with a slight hesitation. "You still think you can-"

Ruby leveled her right hand with Edna's chest and bent the power of the Portal, the power of Remnant itself, to her will. Her eyes shone with the light of pure silver just as they had when she confronted Cinder atop the CCT and Azure on his pillar of ice. With the lightest of taps the power burst forth and a beam of intense Silver energy shot towards her.

Edna held her Staff to block but found herself hopelessly outmatched. Within seconds of struggling against the tidal wave of magic her staff crumbled to dust. She clutched the last fragment of her weapon, the crystal orb of aura that sat atop, in her hands with desperate ferocity. Quickly the orb itself gave way as well, flickering and dying beneath the raw strength of the magic. Edna cursed wildly as the laser hit her body full force, sending her crashing into the arena wall like a cannonball. Ruby forcefully shut off the valve of power and trapped what remained, within her. Edna slumped forward from the crevice in the wall and splashed unceremoniously into the water.

Ruby turned to the portal. The opaque glow from before was fading and the sight of swirling silver vortex beneath it started to become visible. Ruby ran its side and instinctually released the magic from her body and into the portal pedestal. The throne glowed softly for a moment then fell to the dull lifeless form that it had worn for a millenia. The color of the Pedestal thickened back to it's typical green and the vortex underneath was sealed away.

The voices returned again in a mixture of confusion and mild amusement. " _So she managed to absorb the power of the spell without blowing up then re-established it before it fully dissipated, my so that one from before wasn't such a fluke after all. Come to think of it you do look alike."_

Ruby blinked. "Wait what? You mean my mom? What do you know about my mom!?"

The voices spoke one more time before going silent. " _Such a shame though, now she'll die as painfully as her friends. Truly a shame."_

The whole city shook as if it were hit by an earthquake. More Dust deposits broke free from the roof of the cavern and barreled down to Cisteler's streets at terminal velocity, each one hitting with an explosion that further rocked the mountain.

"We've got to bail, now!" Commanded Jaune. Nora had come too and pulled herself up with the help of Ren, Yang and Mercury steadied each other and Ciel fell in line with Jaune.

Ruby noticed there were some missing. "Where is-"

Jaune leapt to answer before she finished. "Weiss and Blake got injured, Neo took them back with her to the entrance, now LET'S GO!"

 **/**

Pascal climbed over the cusp of the hill and found home. White Fang Central, cramped in the back corner of the continent between the Mistral's Eastern Claws and the ocean, the old corpse of a Mistralian military base forgotten to time and patched together from it's crumbling ruins with the passion and tenacity of her comrades, was being abandoned once more. Trucks and boats stolen by the White Fang, both military and civilian, were being loaded up with resources that the organization had spent years collecting, Troops poured into them as well, waiting for the orders to flee into the wilderness or sea.

She cursed under her breath. While they had stopped briefly after conquering the first major fort, Naslain and the Sentinel army had resumed their rampage through Anima's backwater in a mad dash for this very location. They would dig out the White Fang from its very roots even if they had to overturn the soil of the entire forest of people surrounding them. But it wouldn't work, they would escape, and the dead they left behind would only allow more seeds to spread, they would strike back they always- _gods._

Her left hand rose to cover her mouth. _Were those, refugees?_

They were, in fact a startling amount of those running like chickens with their heads cut off in the swarm of vaguely controlled chaos. Too many. Those who couldn't join and fight might very well find themselves fleeing on foot like rats desperately scrambling from a sinking ship. She could see so much pain in them even from her perch atop the hill, it would only be a matter of time till some curious Grimm came looking for a snack.

Then she heard him. "I WANT EVERYONE READY TO GO WITHIN THE HOUR! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Frankly she was shocked she hadn't noticed him before. In the center of the confusion stood Bismuth, or at least, the raging tempest of deep blacks and violent reds that swirled around him. To his right stood Adamn, an easily recognizable figure with his bright red hair. He gave the traditional White Fang solute and scurried off to hasten the retreat. The cloud around her high leader only seemed to gradually expand, refugees and soldiers alike looked on in silent fear at the beastial man.

Pascal nodded to herself. "Alright rookie, let's go give the boss a bit of good news."

She glanced over her shoulder at Sun who sat forlornly on a withered stump. Tail passionless swaying back and forth. He stared downwards at his hands, his staff clutched in his right and the badge of his fallen comrade in the other, still stained with the crust of blood.

He let out a massive sigh, as if setting down a burden from his mind. "Ok, let's go."

 **/**

Ruby leapt down from the pedestal and broke into a sprint along side her companions as they made a mad dash for the city's upper levels. Rock and Dust fell from the stone sky like hail the size of cars. One boulder came down dangerously close to Jaune and crushed a what Ruby assumed was once a bakery. A Dust sphere came hurtling towards them like a bomb dropped from a fighter jet. Ciel flashed her tattoo marks and shot a bolt of lighting to intercept. The Dust exploded mid air, nearly deafening the gang but leaving them decidedly non smooshed.

Several painstakingly slow minutes later, they passed where Ruby had fought her illusion and reached the upper plateaus of Cisteler and tragedy struck. With a ancient moan the bottom half of the city collapsed, buildings ripped from their foundations as entire vistas and districts slide downwards towards the depths, like the entire city was on a plate being flipped over and it's contents being emptied into the void. The gang shot through one of the many upper crossroads at the rim of the city as a wide crack formed down the center. Panicked, they scrambled to the far side near the exit just before the rest fell backwards into the abyss, taking the two that hadn't made it across with it.

Ruby would have gotten over the gap if she hadn't stopped to help Mercury woh had stumbled. The floor beneath them gave way and they began to fall. Yang turned to look at them with absolute horror, the two most important people in her life about to be buried in the remains of a city dead. She rushed forward to grab them but was trapped by the waist by Jaune who yanked her back to safety.

Her screams of anguish drifted quickly away from Ruby's ears as they tumbled through the air towards death. She grabbed helpless Mercury by the waist and pulled hard to the left, slamming them into the free falling street besides them. Her aura groaned as she was sandwiched between the boy and the stone but it held thanks to the apparent boost she gained from the Portal. Placing her feet against the vertical pathway she focused her Speeds into her legs to propel her and her passenger upwards to another dislodged rock farther up. Repeating the process with practiced accuracy and frantic quickness she found herself nearing where they had fallen from.

Jaune had thankfully dragged Yang and the others off somewhere safe because that holding too was beginning to fall apart. Ruby lamented the realization that her destination was too far for her to jump and changed directions as best she could. Feeling her Semblance stretched to its limits on her body she slid roughly onto a small plateau at the far upper side of the city that remained sturdy in place lodged in the corner of two rockfaces.

Mercury rolled from Ruby's grasp and onto his side. He was panting even more furious than Ruby had and was clutching his side. She cursed under her breath. Mercury was the only one to have completely lost his Aura shielding during the struggle against Edna and had taken the force of the fall practically unprotected.

"Just leave me, I'll only slow you down!" He wheezed through gritted teeth, his face paling from exhaustion.

Ruby tossed herself onto her side and began rising to her feet. "There is no way in hell that I'm-" Mercury wouldn't let her finish and muster his remaining strength to push her into cover as three green bullets zoomed past them.

Their gunman stumbled from a back alley corner, her hair a matted mess and hands shaking from stress and fatigue as she held her aura together by the seems.

Emerald.

The lifelong thief snarled. "Cinder still needs you. You're coming with me, NOW!"

She shot off another bullet and Ruby duck and rolled to the side. The bullet bore into the side of a wall and dust from the weak rocks above the tiny plateau fluttered downwards.

Ruby bit back a curse. "STOP! You'll bring what little is left down on top of us!"

Emerald shook her head, wild fervor in her eyes. "She'll kill me if I come back empty handed, she'll kill me."

"Then put down the gun and come with us! Mercury, Neo, they've joined us, why won't you?"

She shook her head again with greater force. "Because I'm not an idiot! They left the moment things got hard! They haven't seen-You haven't seen the things she can do, the thing she serves." Her shaking turned to shivers.

"But I will survive, I won't die in a ditch like you guys will, I won't! I will survive, even if I have to play pet and knife to that goddamn devil! I WILL SURVIVE!"

Another bullet, Ruby dodged this one the same. It hit the wall again and a crack formed above. Emerald glanced upwards then stumbled backwards. She barely had any strength left to stand up.

Mercury pulled himself to his feet and Emerald took advantage of his equally weakened state. She yanked him towards her with the chains of her weapon and touched the blade to his throat.

"Come with me or I'll kill him now, he's your friend right? Your little brother in arms? Stand down."

Ruby stepped out from behind her cover and held her hands above her head. "Ok."

Mercury struggled weakly against Emerald's bonds till she pressed the edge of her blades closer to him. "Just run Ruby! Yang and the others need you more than they do me!"

Ruby stepped closer. "We need you too Merc."

Emerald's eyes glared with satisfaction while Merc's looked on in selfless worry. There was no doubt in any corner of Ruby's mind now, Mercury was a changed man, but Emerald...she had changed to.

"Don't do it, remember what I said? You let Neo and I make the hard choices so I'm making one now, LEAVE ME!"

Time seemed to stand still in that collapsing cavern. Emerald gone mad with pleasing her master, Mercury resigned to death on behalf of his, and Ruby with a million thoughts and scenarios raging through her mind. One such thought lead to what her illusion had told her, to what her vile words and temptations had tried to lure her in. Words that would let her forget about what she needed to face within her, words just like the ones Mercury had the kind heart to tell her a few nights prior.

" _I'm sorry Mercury"_ She thought.

" _But you couldn't be more wrong."_

"You win Emerald." She dropped Crescent Rose to her side and took one more long look into her crazed eyes. "I give up."

Emerald smiled and threw Mercury to the side. He weakly tried to stand up and fight back but fell to his knees instead.

She glanced back at him. "There's an intact staircase to the left where I came from that leads back outside, better save your strength to make it there."

She grabbed Ruby by the arm and raised her weapon to knock her out.

Ruby sighed. "You didn't let me finish."

Emerald looked down at her, puzzled. "What?"

Activating Speed, she bashed Emerald into a wall. She gasped in pain and tried to retaliate but Ruby smashed into her again. The signaling flash of a broken aura spread over her body and she fell to the ground, still conscious.

A small stone stalactite dislodged from the roof and Ruby caught it in her hand before driving it down towards Emerald who caught it by the tip and pushed back.

A tear ran down Ruby's right cheek. "I give up, on you."

Emerald's grip gave way and the rock spear pierced straight through her chest and impaled her onto the stone floor. She tried to scream but her voice cut out as her windpipe was severed. Her body spasmed a moment before falling silent, eyes draining of all life.

"Ruby…" Merc whispered in utter shock.

She didn't leave herself time to feel, she could grieve later. Snatching up Crescent Rose and forcefully grabbing Mercury by the waist she move to escape. The cave shook even more violently, the entire upper portion of the city fell into the pile of total ruin that made up the rest. The ground beneath the began to move, the cracks in the ceiling and around the wall where Ruby had attacked began growing exponentially.

Tapping into the last reserves of her Aura, Ruby flared her Speed as high as it could and darted towards the last staircase and into the normal caverns above the city. She saw the light of the outside filtering in and pushed herself out of the finale vestitures of the city of the dead and into the world of the living.

The entrance caved in behind them with one climactic crash. Her Speed dissipated as her Aura vanished. They toppled to the ground before them, panting, limbs exhausted, they stayed there awhile to catch their breath.

Mercury cough as he cleared his threat to speak. "Why didn't you just leave me? We talked about this, you can't try to save everyone."

"I didn't save everyone." She replied bluntly.

Merc went silent. Ruby forced herself to sit up and playfully tapped him on the head. He groaned and sat up with her.

"You know my sister always used to read me fairy tales." She said.

"What?"

"Just shut up and listen." She sighed heavily. "Like I said she would read me countless stories about heroes saving the day, and those were the foundation of my dreams."

She lay Crescent Rose across her lap and saw with disappointment that a dirt covered surface was all that greeted her. "But you know, if there was one thing I never understood about them was the villains, not the dragons or evil overlords, I got those guys, after all every story needs a bad guy right? The ones that confused me were the ones who tried to redeem themselves."

Merc looked up at her with curious intensity ass she continued in a facetious voice. "The man with a tortured past who sought revenge, at their lowest point the knight in shining armor took pity upon them and showed them the light. Thankful for their second chance, in one last moment of selflessness they sacrifice themselves to save the day and the life of the savior of their soul. Now why do you think they do that?"

"To prove their redemption, to set things right." Mercury said darkly.

Ruby flicked him in the forehead to his annoyance. "No you dumbass, it's because they're cowards."

Merc swallowed a lump in his throat and stared forlornly at his metallic boots as Ruby furthered her reprimand. "I mean seriously! He cause all that trouble, ruin so many lives, are given a chance to do good, and what do they do with it? They throw it away in some honorable chevalier bullshit! Do they honestly think they can fix everything? By going and dying like some fool? They get a free ticket to Valhalla and leave the people who took the chance to save them to undo all the suffering they caused! Doesn't that sound unfair to you?"

Mercury didn't respond.

"In order to ACTUALLY make up for what they did they need to live! They need to live every day, looking their sins in the eye and wrestling them to the ground, rebuilding everything they destroyed brick by brick, life by life, good deed by good deed."

Mercury looked at her, deep contemplation on his face. His eyes were growing red and puffy as if he were about to cry.

Ruby shook her head in lazy resignation as she wiped off the muck from her Scythe with her sleeve and revealed her face staring back at her. Bags sagged beneath her tiered silver eyes seemed to stare beyond the metal and int some far off place that nobody else could see, that nobody would dare follow. The woman staring back at her looked far too old compared to the chipper little girl swallowing cookies after a good night fighting sassy crooks on the streets of how old was she? Sixteen, her Seventeenth Birthday was right around the corner, she'd probably be well passed Eighteen by the time their mission would be complete if they ever completed it. Being a Huntress was a job that stole youth in droves and would give her grey hair before she knew it. But it was a job that Ruby would never abandon. She found a smile rise on her lips one dwarfed compared to her grins of two years prior. A small, simple, unbreakable smile, one born of the simplest of souls and forged hard and true against the worst storms the world could throw at it. The smile of Ruby Rose.

"That is a heavy burden, one that we can never set down."

Mercury blinked away a tear. "We?"

"We're gonna carry that weight for as long as we live to make up for the mistakes we made, to give back, everything we had to destroy. It's going to be heavy but don't you worry."

She averted her eyes from the woman in her Scythe and found the hand she used to end the life of a scared beggar just trying to survive, still coated in blood.

"Because I'm going to be right there, carrying my own, one step at a time."

She returned her gaze to Mercury. "I'm not going to make you my knife like Cinder made Emerald her's. Your my friend, and e're carrying our weights doen the same path. So let's Keep Moving Forward. Together."

Mercury's tears halted at his smile. "Thank you, leader."

Voices echoed nearby. "There they are!"

They turned to see their friends scrambling up the hill to meet them, Neo even managing to carry both an unconscious Weiss and Blake over her shoulders the entire time. Yang headed the pack yelling blubbered obscenities in their direction, arms outstretched for a bare hug.

"She's going to tackle us."

"Yup."

Merc sighed. "And it's gonna hurt?"

"A lot, but we'll carry that weight together as well."

"Ok boss, don't push it too far."

Ruby laughed. "Yeah, ok."

She sat back onto the ground and awaited Yang's loving bodyslam. "Ok."

* * *

Edna's air was running out by the time she found it in the rubble. "Oh thank god." She said through her cracking voice and welling tears.

She pulled a star shaped trinket from the clutches of Remnant and held it up to the dim light of a single shard of white dust. It was bent, rusted, and the pin on the back had fallen off. It was perfect. She smothered it against her bosom and cried out prayers of thanks to whatever god had given it back to her. Now she could begin worrying about how she was going to die.

She slumped back against what she assumed was the dislodged wall of some random building. A loud earthly groaned resounded in her pocket of air and the rocks that made up her roof seemed to sag. It was all up to fate now which would kill her first, the lack of oxygen or the collapse stone. All up to fate. Edna despised fate.

There was of course one other method of gruesome death available to her. One that had the audacity to act like it was a way out. She plucked her earring from her left ear. It was an unobtrusive mirror like black ball that one might mistake for a marble rather than the product of the darkest magic Remnant had ever known.

Edna released a breath of anxiety as the air continued to thin. "Raven did this, and you can do it too." She whispered reassuringly.

She crushed the bead in her had then threw it upon the discarded clump of Dust. The crystal spasmed and cracked as ear splitting shrieks of pain echoed from it. The Dust went dark and shattered with an explosive burst that nearly tore the unstable ceiling down.

The dust cleared and Edna's whole body went numb with fear. Before her, risen from remains of the black bead, hovered a pulsating red and black portal. From it drifted the sounds of damnation itself. Screams of terror and roars of agony chimed like music notes over the low beat of tortured moans and garbled pleas for mercy from souls damned so long ago that everything they once were was gone, all that remained was a formless torment that persisted through the Epochs. All that remained was Misery.

Any rational person would have slit their throat or toppled the boulders above to crush themselves by now, for no death would ever be as painful as the one that awaited whoever entered. But there were two, two in her entire generation who had touched the doorway of death and had made it out alive, or as alive as they pretended to be. THe Branwen Twins, Reapers of Souls.

She steadied herself and rose to her fate, no, not fate, her Destiny! She circled her thumb around the gnarled metal keepsake. It was her Destiny, and she could always choose her Destiny.

"Raven, I'm coming home."

Edna took one last breath and stepped through the Gate and began her stroll through the depths of hell.

 **To Be Continued…..in Volume 6 chapter 1: The Daily Grind**

 **Thank you all for being so patient with me these past few months. I'm going to be taking a break till after Christmas to put a buffer between my uploads and my completed writing so I don't have a repeat of the last big break again. Als oso I can begin writing my own Book! It's called "The Moonlight Guard Book 1: The Cage of Light"**

 **If you want to hear more about it or any updates/sneak peaks on what's coming up for RWBY: The Path We Walk, I highly advise you to follow me on Twitter: zireks_writes**

 **See you all next time!**


	39. Chapter 35: The Daily Grind

**A/N: AAAAAANNNNNDDDD We're back! Follow me on Twitter: zireks_writes to get new updates on when the next chapter will be up and where you can pester me if I'm late. Oh, and maybe even see a sneak peak here or there. Now, onto the beginning of Volume 6!**

Raven sat in her plain office and stared down at _Yozomai_. Oz had told her that it's design was one of the most intricate and elegant he had ever laid eyes upon. Raven still couldn't tell if that compliment was genuine, or just another lie. Bah, it didn't matter, whether the blade was elegant or crude it would take life all the same. All the same.

Through force of habit her eyes shot to the right, half expecting to see her clingy protege Edna lounging on her red velvet couch; nursing a glass of vintage wine as she casually chastised her lack of stylish decorum. Last time she was there she had nearly convinced her to buy a Vacuan palm tree to " _liven up"_ the den of her favorite " _Avian mastermind"_.

Now that protege was most likely dead, crushed and suffocated beneath the shattered corpse of a city long dead. She had sent a search party but they failed to breakthrough the rubble that choked the mountain's cave. It had been over two months. Edna was truly, undeniably, dead.

Raven sighed and leaned her head on her hands. Her gloved fingers rubbed against the ever growing crows feet by her eyes. The plan was going well, save for Azure's blunder at Haven, everything was falling perfectly into place. She had taken over the Huntsmen and cowed them into her new Sentinels. She had gained the support of the public as well as both Aibori Schnne and doctor Solei and putting Ironwood behind bars, effectively putting Atlas in her back pocket. Naislain's war against the White Fang had practically neutered the threat they posed and the propaganda her media team had cooked up had the general public eating out of her hands and hanging on every scapegoat and lofty promise. That Lisa was so good at her job it was scary. And most of all they had finally contained the last maiden, Spring. She still owed Jacob dinner for that.

But the silver-eyed warrior, scion of the wizard and Ozpin's last gamble, the final piece of the puzzle, had slipped through their fingers; taking a priceless piece of history, and a dear friend, down in their wake. She winced as a spike of pain shot through her left side. Black spots swarmed her vision before fading away. "Dammit." She muttered.

Thinking about Edna's fate brought about emotions that she had long since drowned in the depths of her being. But the " _thing"_ that lurked there always managed to throw them back at her like poisoned darts during moments of weakness. When they hit she could feel it writhing with glee, a mad predator caged for far too long. It waited for the day a hinge came loose, a wide enough crack in its host's facade. She shut her eyes tight and took a deep meditative breath. The pain passed and the monster slinked back into the pit that was her soul.

Raven let out a sigh of relief. It had been months since last the curse had tried to move against her directly, not since her duel with Qrow that brought Shade Academy to its knees had it stirred from its patient slumber. It smelled her sorrow, sorrow from Edna's death, the loss of her playful smirk.

A groan escaped her. "I have to be more careful."

She thought she'd learned. Never let anyone get close, closeness brought happiness and sorrow in equal measures. But with that thing inside her, with the weight of her title as a Reaper looming over her as a shadow that stretched back through eons, that equality looked far to lopsided. She should have learned not to make that mistake again after...after...

The large steel doors of her office creaked open and an uncomfortably oppressive heat pushed against her. Raven tensed before forcing herself to relax. She looked upwards without emotion. "Cinder...welcome."

The demon in crimson casually entered and gazed at her compatriot with a confident smirk and a dark malice buried beneath her eyes. "Hello, Raven. Tell me, have you found my pet's corpse?" She said. Raven couldn't discern if the tone was one of amusement, annoyance, or anger.

"I promise you m'lady, we are continuing to search for clues to what happened to Emerald, if and when we find her we will be sure-"

"Don't bother." Cinder interjected. "I've told you before, my pet is dead, as is yours. I sensed both of them leave this world, your _efforts_ are pointless and pretending they are alive to appease my annoyance at your failure is nothing but a waste of resources, an activity you humans take great pleasure in I assume but is ultimately infuriating to me."

Cinder sat down upon the couch, Edna's couch, and crossed her legs. The unsettling heat of her aura let out a sizzle on contact with the cooled cushions. "And of course by _me_ you know who I'm referring to." The demon's other pet, the beatle grimm with the power to consume souls, clicked ominously as it crawled from her hair and nestled onto her shoulder. It's dark red eyes peered out at Raven. The eyes of a god.

Raven kept her expression stoic. "Very well, the search is off, and as soon as the silver eyed warrior or Ozpin is located we will pool all our efforts into capturing them."

Cinder absently scratched the neck of the beetle and it bleated with pleasure. "And how long shall that take?"

 _Keep your poker face Raven._ She thought.

"We are, unsure."

Cinder pursed her lips. "Oh, so you don't know."

Raven shook her head. "Like you said, lying to you would only make our relationship sour, something neither of us want."

"Something _you_ don't want Raven."

"Right, something I don't want. I'd be better to be blunt and honest, and I can honestly assure you that it is only a matter of time before we have all the pieces. Your god has waited thousands of years, she can wait a few more."

Cinder frowned and Raven had to resist every urge in her body to flinch. "And what makes you think she will be ok with that? You are immensely lucky for her to even considered this partnership. She is already annoyed with your pet's blunder, and is growing...impatient."

Despite the heat, the room grew bitterly cold. "And what do you propose I do?"

Cinder closed her eyes a minute, the grimm beetle leaned towards her ear and seemed to whisper to her. She opened her eyes. "You are...familiar with what is happening two weeks from today, right?"

Raven squinted. "The first anniversary of the fall of Beacon. I'm planning on giving a speech then to the world."

Cinder smiled. "Then it's settled."

Raven looked bewildered. "What is-"

The demon's frown turned into a wicked smile. "Starting on midnight of that day you will have precisely one year to unite humanity under your banner and release my, no, _our_ goddess from her tomb. Remember, your kind is an inconvenience to her, and this will prove yourselves as useful tools worthy of saving. So in return she shall do just that and deem you, the capable Raven Branwen, the ruler of all mankind."

Raven grit her teeth. This deal had already been made once before, a long time ago by a different Raven. One who was small, broken, and weak, one who had only Edna as a follower and a daughter to think about. She didn't have either of those now. Instead she was the de facto ruler of all Remnant, and the deal that would be her world's saving arc had a deadline, one impossibly close.

"You swear on whatever honor you have that you will spare humanity from whatever your Goddess plans?"

Cinder nodded. "Humanity is but a pebble on the side of the road to her, inconsequential to her divine agenda, she will be merciful, they will be spared. You have my word."

Raven nodded solemnly. "Then it is done by next year victory shall be-"

Raven would have finished speaking her dramatic decision if a literally portal to hell hadn't torn it's way through space time and into her office. For the first time since the night at Shade academy, Cinder looked genuinely stunned as she unceremoniously fell from the couch and scrambling to her feet, the beatle jittered with morbid excitement.

Raven instinctively flew from her chair and fell into combat stance with _Yozomai_. The portal was a thick bloody red, spiralling inwards with clouds of black miasma. Screams drifted through the rift, horrible, sickening screams of agony. Raven had seen it many times when using the Reaper's ability to travel long distances quickly with short cuts through the grimm Ley Lines of Remnant. Had Qrow opened one from his cell? No that was impossible, she made sure of it. Then who could-

Edna stumbled out of the portal's maw, her staff broken in two and her designer outfit flayed to ribbons and caked in blood and black sludge. Her hair frayed, drained of vibrance as if she had aged a hundred years. Her crimson eyes, once playful and devious, looked on with a vacant stare that looked past her surprised audience. Most unsettling of all were her irises, their signature ruby glint smothered by an empty black void.

Her chapped lips formed a bloodied smile. "Sorry…love...for being so…late….though I'd…just take a stroll through the devil's...backyard…it was quite...lovely."

Edna's eyes rolled back in her head. She dropped to the floor as a seizure gripped her crumpled body. Raven looked on in stunned horror. Harmonizing with the portal's depraved symphony she could hear the distinct hollow laughter of the beast that dwelled within her.

For the first time in nearly fifteen years it spoke to her. "What a happy day."

* * *

"Ninety Lien!?" You promised one-twenty!" ranted Sapphire, her skin going a livid red to contrast her blue hair.

Her employer, Rust, waved her of dismissively. "Looks like somebody didn't read the fine print. I said one-twenty for wiping out the den of beowolves, you and your girlfriend only killed half of them."

"Yeah, and left the other half wounded and running with their tails between their legs! They're probably halfway cross Vacuo by now and won't ever be coming back." Replied Sapphire.

Rust hook his head. "Oh yeah? Driving the Grimm off counts now? Look what happened to Vale when it got lazy with its grimm control. Forty for what you did, the other twenty if you hunt down the rest. Too much work? Then leave me alone and go spend what you've got at the bar with the rest of you whinny young pieces of shit."

The crotchety old man attempted to slam the door in her face but the young mercenary caught it. "The money, now you old cheapskate."

A flash of worry crossed Rust's face before returning to a deep scowl. "Careful now, or do you want Sentinels come running?"

Sapphire faltered slightly.

Rust grinned. "Those tinmen have been harsh on the likes of you lately, I suggest you leave."

Sapphire sighed. "Bastard." She slammed the door shut before storming off down the fractured steps of the old apartment building

"That got heated" said a calm and familiar voice.

Her partner Cedar met her at the bottom of the stairs and gave her a look of sympathy. The bangs of her short brown hair that hovered cutely above her beautiful eyes brightened Sapphire's mood, if only slightly.

She groaned softly and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "It's fine, he's not worth exposing ourselves to the authorities." Regaining her composure, she turned her attention to her newly acquired pouch of money. "What are our funds looking like?"

Cedar pulled an identical punch from the pocket of her grey hoodie. "Counting today's disappointing reward and Midnight's next paycheck, I'd put us at….three-thousand Lien."

Her partner shrugged. "Could be worse, let's head back."

Leaving the stagnating stench of the old ward, the two made their way into one of the eight central plazas of Vacuo city. Artistic sculptures and pristine fields of imported Animanian grass sprawled out for all to enjoy, and while the number of citizens frolicing through them had no doubt increased as of recent, their numbers still felt disproportionately thin compared to their size.

The reason why was still obvious, even after over half a year of construction, the complete destruction of Shade academy still left an ugly scare of on the picturesque city-scape, the half finished replacement spat utop the highest hill, looking like an ancient skeleton ripped from it's bed of dirt and worms by a shameless grave robber. Sapphire's mind had been making morbid similes like that for a while now, and it was beginning to concern her.

"Hey Saph?" Cedar asked worriedly.

"Huh?" Since when had she come to making nicknames? "Oh, nothing, just daydreaming is all.

Cedar smiled. "The hard-ass fallen hunter, _Sapphire of the Blue Moon_ daydreams now?"

Her face went bright red. "What can I say, it's hard to stay in character, not everyone can be as good as you Bla-" Sapphire bit her tongue to stop herself from finishing. Stupid. Sure they were speaking softly, but there were people everywhere and even a few Sentinel patrols not far away, blowing cover so casually would be an embarrassment that would kill her before Cinder ever got the chance.

Cedar shot her a disciplined look before softening. "Don't worry, we won't have to live like this much longer." She leaned in close and Sapphire's heart skipped a beat. She whispered quietly. "Ruby."

Sapphire smiled for one of the first times since they went into hiding. It was nice to hear her real name again, and it pained her to think that it would probably be at least another month before she would again.

The pair soon arrived at their usual spot, a quaint outdoor cafe that claimed to sell the greatest cup of coffee in the world. Of course that claim was quite weakened by the fact that every other cafe in the city said the same thing. They were all lying of course, no coffee could ever surpass one made by Coco back at Beacon.

They took two chairs by the far end of the cafe under the shade of a teal umbrella. In minutes their waitress arrived and Sapphire found herself smiling for the second time that day.

Midnight elegantly waltzed towards them with two steaming mugs and a smile for herself. She never did get used to seeing her with her hair cut short and dyed black, nor her scar covered over with makeup, but her teammate pulled the look off well.

"Black for you miss Cedar, is that a new bow?"

"Yeah, though it's hardly anything special."

"Nonsense, it's perfect." She turned toward Sapphire. "And a cream with five sugars for the ball of energy."

"Why thank you."

The voice of a man a few tables down whistled drunkenly toward Midnight. "Heeloooo! Another fill of fine coffee my finer waitress." The greasy drunkard winked at her and laughed.

Cedar cringed. "Are you ok here?"

Midnight sighed. "I make due, through the faster you guys get us out of here the better."

Sapphire leaned to the side to spot new arrivals. "Speak of the Grimm and they shall appear, it looks like our way outs just showed up."

Strutting in naturally as if she owned the place, Clay pulled Sapphire and Cedar into a loving hug. "Ah I missed you two little buggers." She said, her smooth orange locks tickling their noses. She pulled that Vacuan accent off far too well. Clay gave Midnight a flirtatious wink, prompting a huff and a blush.

"Don't strangle the kids." Said a cheery voice punctuated by the soft clink of metallic boots. Leaf pulled up a chair and threw himself down, his messy green hair falling in front of his face.

Clay smirked and released her two friends then followed her partner's example. "I'll have a milkshake, and mop head over here will have a decaf."

Midnight chuckled before

Leaf frowned, "I don't have a mop-head."

Sapphire smirked, "Just accept it."

They all laughed and Leaf slumped in his seat. "Fine then, I guess I won't tell you the good news."

Cedar's ear twitched beneath her bow. "Good news? That still exists?"

Leaf shook his head. "You'll never know till everyone here apologizes for mocking my hair."

Clay groaned. "Oh don't be a baby, if you're not going to tell them I will. Remember that lead we found last week?"

Cedar sipped her coffee and nodded, "The one at the sand docks? From that shopkeeper that looked suspiciously like the one from Vale?"

"Yeah, his twin brother, apparently he has forty, but that's not the point, it's that we followed his hints and we found it, the Vacuan branch of the Hanged Men."

Sapphire nearly spat out her own drink. It had been nearly six months since they had last made contact with the underground alliance of smugglers. "So they really are still kicking around here huh? I was beginning to think the Sentinels had rooted them out."

Leaf huffed. "You'd be surprised at how resilient cockroaches can be, especially ones from Vacuo."

"So when can we meet them?" spoke Cedar.

Clay shrugged. "They were dodging the question, but they said soon. They aren't as bold as Shire's sect in Haven."

She stood up with a bolt and smiled. "Now if you excuse me I have to go freshen up, all that sand does horrors to my skin. Don't touch my milkshake Sapphire." She scampered off without a care in the world. Once again, Sapphire smiled. Despite their situation, it was good to see her in such high spirits, though she wondered why...Leaf was starting after Clay with an absent content smile. Sapphire suppressed a giggle, of course.

Leaf's smile left him quickly though, and in its place formed the resting frown he wore all too often. "I saw another wanted poster of us today, they're spreading fast."

Sapphire's hands tightened around her mug and Cedar swore under her breath. They had gone to ground in Vacuo to let the heat of their battle with Edna cool off but it wasn't working. They had seen their names added to the list of Sentinel bounties a few days before, now there were apparently full fledged wanted poster of them going up around the city. Neo-erm-Berry's disguises for them had worked wonders so far, but time would catch up to them eventually. Then they'd have to leave for who knows where.

She sighed. "So this is what it's like to be on the run? Keeping your nose down and being ready to drop everything and leave at a moments notice?"

"Yup" replied Leaf in a way that felt disturbingly nonchalant. Cedar simply sighed and nodded her head.

Before she could continue her line of pessimistic thought, an explosion resounded through the air and a column of smoke rose from a tall building five blocks away.

Cedar jumped from her seat. "The Archives!"

Sapphire's face fell. "Wait, that's where-" She exchanged silent looks with her two comrades before running off to lend their aid.

* * *

Pyrite tossed the sad empty husk of his soda into the trash can as he re-entered the research wing of the Vacuan Archives. The prestigious public building was one of the kingdoms many claims to fame. Along every single one of it's countless interconnected halls lay advanced terminals and restored tomes containing every fact, news story, research paper, or old lore ever recorded and recovered across Remnant. Through the archives remained, ashamedly, incomplete due to the laps in recording from the fall of Vale's CCT, researches ran throughout the building, tirelessly cataloging all events and knowledge arises from the past year of hazy strife.

A few confusing turns later he found himself at his destination, one of the many smaller public rooms dedicated to citizens doing their own research. Quietly stepping into the room, he passed unhindered through one of the archives many weapon detectors. Pyrite hated the idea of walking about these days without his sword and shield in hand, but leaving them behind at the gang's run down apartment would have to do.

There were a couple Vacuans lounging about near the entrance, quietly chatting with each other as they sunk comfortably into beany chairs with books strewn across their laps. It was calm and tranquil, a fierce contradiction to the tides of hectic war chaos Pyrite knew the rest of the world to be battling. Despite the impossible peace, Sapphire, Clay, and of course Perrywinkle would have no doubt lost their minds after only a few minutes of the silence while Midnight, Cedar, and Vine would have seen nothing but paradise here. As for Pyrite, he didn't mind the quiet, it let him think, though he wished more progress was being made.

In spite of the troubling thought, Pyrite managed a smile upon locating his partner. True to her introverted nature, Hailo sequestered herself into the far corner of the room. The disguising yellow of her eyes were split between the contents of an old leather book and the blue glow of one of the archive's terminals. Her disheveled silver hair grew out past its usual length and draped over the back of her shoulders.

Pyrite spoke with a chuckle. "Mind if I join you?"

Hailo jumped in her seat, strands of hair falling in front of her face. "Don't scare me like that." She said groggily, the bags under her eyes now visible.

Pyrite apologized with another chuckle and sat himself down in an empty chair. "Find anything interesting?"

Hailo groaned softly and rubbed her drooping eye with her knuckles. "Depends on what you'd call interesting."

Now more alert, Hailo peered over Pyrite's shoulder towards the other occupants of the room, all to absorbed in their own conversation to pay them any mind. Tapping a few keys on her terminal the glow ceased and the computer shut down.

She leaned inwards and began whispering. "Most info about the Sentinel's activity is either highly classified or pretty obviously doctored. Aside from a few vague and back patting progress updates on the war against the White Fang in Anima. Speaking of which, they are apparently, and I quote, 'kicking ass.'" She said that last bit with an air quote.

Pyrite shook his head. "Anything else?"

"Raven's history is a blank too. Apparently she was a deep cover huntsman before she made her appearance at Shade. If you asked about her, they'd just tell you she either died or went missing. She was a ghost, a concealed dagger waiting to strike if you want to get poetic."

Pyrite nodded mournfully. "Nothing more than what Yang already knew then huh? Dammit."

Hailo rubbed her temples. "All this information and i've found nothing of use, lots of help I am right?"

Pyrite shook his head. "Don't beat yourself up over this, so what if we're going in blind? That's gotten us this far."

Hailo's near perpetual frown lighten a moment. "It's also gotten us nearly killed on multiple occasions, but I don't doubt that'll happen more and more regardless of what intel we get."

Pyrite smiled, glad he could help out his partner's mood, if only a little. "The Sentinels might be a blind spot, but what about that city? Or the Maidens and Silver eyes?"

Hailo shrugged but kept her newfound smile. "Not much better, the maidens show up a few more times in lore, but mostly just old wives tales about childbirth and….endowment...you probably don't want me to tell you those now do you?"

Pyrite felt a slight blush arise upon his cheeks and Hailo's grin began to match the mischievous glint in her eyes. As reserved and pessimistic as she acted it seemed their dysfunctional friend group was finally rubbing off on her, sadly that meant another person who knew how to push his buttons.

"No, I really don't, but what about the others?"

Hailo placed the ancient book she was reading between them and pointed towards a faded illustration, one depicting a man fighting off a horde of churning shadows, his body an undefined blur save for a set of two glistening silver eyes.

"Not sure if it's useful, but this old book of folklore from around the world says that they were a nomadic tribe specializing in hunting grimm. They traded their services and expertise to towns and villages in exchange for supplies. Eventually they're numbers shrunk and the royal families of the old kingdoms bought out their services for life, effectively ending the tribe's autonomy. Their knowledge was passed down till it became the core that the huntsman academy's curriculum was based on."

"What happened to them?"

"It doesn't say, I assume they married into the general populous and diluted their bloodline. I think Ruby is the only one I've ever actually. I also can't find any reference to that city, only that most lore about the origins of life in Vacuo mention a great migration from east of the deserts."

Pyrite's ears perked up. "The direction of the city."

Hailo nodded. "Correct, it appears that Edna's claims about humanity once holding up in these four ancient cities has a kernel of truth to it."

Pyrite sat back in his chair, deep thought overtaking his mind. Hailo turned the pages till she reached one with a drawing of two warriors, noe kneeling before the other as their bodies glowed with the light of aura.

"I found more about what happened to your aura."

Now it was Pyrite's turn to nearly jump out of his seat. "Realy!?"

Hailo shushed him but nodded in affirmation. "The legend is old, one of the oldest in Mantle, and pretty vague at that. But from what I'm able to gather, warriors with strong chemistry on and off the battlefield would link their aura's together, allowing them to heal and power eachother up. Here it implies that some were even able to communicate telepathically.

Pyrite gulped. _That dream I had._ His mind wandered to the strange fever dream he had of Pyrrha months ago when he unlocked his semblance, she had seemed to real, so, tangible.

"And another thing" Hailo continued, "It says that when one of these warriors fell, their aura would transfer to their partner in its entirety."

"So that time in the cave-"

"Right, your normal aura ran out, causing her latent aura, and by extension her semblance, to kick in."

She pushed the book towards him so he could get a closer look. "It's remarkable. You and Pyrrha share a bond that none have held for over a thousand years."

For some reason, the news just seemed to leave him feeling...hollow. "Yeah, remarkable."

An explosion echoed from the halls and rocked the floor beneath them. Hailo fell from her chair and Pyrite stumbled to his feet. The civilians percent react with equal surprise, a colossal billow of smoke spewed forth from the entrance, trapping them in.

Pyrite instinctively reached for his sword but cursed when he grabbed nothing but air. Haillo made a similar mistake. Gunshots rang from the halls. "Get behind us!" Yelled Pyrite as he and Haillo rushed towards the door. The civilians followed the order without complaint.

The sound of sword slicing through flesh echoed beyond the smoke before the corpse of a Vacuan soldier slumped into the room. The killer stepped forward, his clothing matched the ebony black of the smoke perfectly and held a katana dyed red with dust and blood. His white fang mask did little to hide the rising smile on his pale face.

" _We're fucked."_ Muttered Jaune in realization.

Adam turned his gaze to his next targets. "Hello there."

* * *

Coco stood still as stone as she looked critically up at the cloud of smoke rising from the Archives building. All around citizens were running and screaming, confusion and fear sticking to them like leeches. The city guard would have quite the influx of grimm to deal with today.

A woman stumbled into her and would have fallen face first if Coco hadn't pulled her up in time. "Th-thank you." She said through flustered breaths.

Coco smiled, "Don't mention it, now stay safe ya hear?"

She nodded and ran off out of sight. Coco took a sip of her fresh brew, decaf, she decided it was time to try something new. Velvet appeared next to her, her face stony and focused yet retaining the rabbit's innate cuteness in place.

"We going in?" She asked.

Coco took another sip. "What do you think?"

"A yes presumably, or perhaps a 'Hell Yeah'?" Chidded Yatsuhashi as he filed into place besides them.

"I can't see shit so I'm just going to assume from the witty banter that you're about to get us all killed. Am I right?" Spoke Fox, scrambling to complete the team.

Coco nodded.

"You know I can't see you nod right?"

Coco nodded again. Fox sighed.

"Enough yappin." She said, downing every last drop of her cup. "Let's roll out."


End file.
